The Mess I Made
by FangedLovers
Summary: "I'm staring at the mess I made. As you turn, you take your heart and walk away." Stiles/OC Season 4B 'Tried & True Series'
1. Human

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf; only Cassidy and the world surrounding her.

Human - Daughter

(polyvore oufit on profile)

**Welcome to The Mess I Made in the Tried & True Series! **

If you haven't read any of my other stories, it would be helpful for to go back through those before you enter this new world.

If you have already read those...HELLO! It's nice to see you guys again! This is my very own 'Teen Wolf Season 4B'. This story will revolve more around relationships, family, friendship, and an understanding of your own person. **So here's a warning; it's going to be triggering and mentally/physically exhausting at times**.

Welcome to Cassidy's unstable world.

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><p><strong>Human<strong>

_Underneath the skin there's a human_  
><em>Buried deep within there's a human<em>  
><em>And despite everything I'm still human<em>  
><em>But I think I'm dying here<em>

"Okay Cassidy, 10 second deep breath."

Said girl didn't try to be discrete at all as she rolled her eyes at the doctor in front of her. She was tired and cranky; just about ready to run out of the office and straight out of the hospital. But that would just leave her right back to where she started; or worse they would actually lock her up this time. That's about the absolute last thing she wanted right now.

She had been in the hospital for three weeks since her 'accident' had happen. At least that was what she was telling the doctors. The Sheriff and Lydia had come up with the story. Lydia and Cassidy were at the school for a study group and to work on a history project. Cassidy had fallen and the dagger, the object they were doing a 'project' around had stabbed her. Lydia called up the Sheriff, which was her first instinct instead of 911. And they brought her to the hospital. It was a stupid story to believe, but the Sheriff's words held all the power in it, so they believed it.

Who wouldn't believe the Sheriff?

Melissa McCall, that's who. Thankfully she had assigned herself to be Cassidy's nurse. Cassidy hated lying to her parents, but this wasn't the time to start a full blown out supernatural conversation. Except for Andy. He didn't believe a word of it. He made it way clear he was worried about his sister, barely leaving her bedside. But she didn't mind, cause he didn't push her with the 'how are you doing', 'are you sure you're okay' or 'maybe you should talk to someone' questions that had been ambushing her. No, if anything he would try to make her happy. They would watch horrible TV shows and movies or play games.

Not like everyone else.

Because she took antidepressants the doctors thought it was a suicide attempt or a call for help, as they 'nicely put it'. But it was neither. She couldn't help but laugh in their faces. Honestly, if that was what it was, why wouldn't she do something more drastic and why would she do it with Lydia around? The whole thing was completely absurd to her and comical, which just made the doctors even more cautious of her release.

Her health had accelerated quickly. They only had her on the breathing machine for a week and a half. Now it was like she was just a lab rat for them to prod and pinch.

This brought her to where she was now, during one of her daily breathing exercises. It was dumb and she found it completely pointless. But she went through them as quickly as possible to get out of there.

So she took the 10 second deep breath.

"Great." The doctor said, writing something down on his chart. "How are you feeling over all?"

Eyeroll. "Fine."

"Any bad thoughts or feelings you are having?"

_Besides the urge to take your stethoscope and strangle you?_ She thought to herself. "Just want to go home."

He nodded. "Well I think we are at that stage. I want you to stay one more night, but you can be released tomorrow morning."

She could literally feel her body deflate in a sort of happiness. She never wanted to be back in this building again.

The two said their goodbyes and she exited the room. She was half surprised one of her parents weren't sitting outside of the room waiting for her. No, instead it was Stiles sitting in the chair, shaking his leg at a constant steady beat. The second the door opened the magazine he had been reading was pulled down from his face, and thrown on the table next to him.

"How'd it go?" He stood up and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

She left out a sigh; here came more questions. "They are releasing me tomorrow morning." She started walking down the hallways back towards her room.

He jogged to catch up with her. "That's great." He smiled down at her, but she only nodded. "Isn't that great?"

"Yeah." She crossed her arms against her chest.

"Then why aren't you excited?"

_Question number three_, she counted in her head. "I'm just tired."

"Then why don't you go back to the room and sleep?" His voice was soft with concern.

"I'm going to." She knew she was being short with him, but she just couldn't help it. Every little thing was getting to her; and right now it was mainly Stiles. Like her family, he also hadn't left her side. She had to push him to go to school and to go sleep in his own bed instead of the chair next to her bed. Basically every time she so much as moved he was next to her making sure she was okay or if she needed anything. She understood he was worried about her but she was about ready to put a restraining order against him.

The two quietly finished the walk back to her room. As they entered she found her mother sitting on one of those god awful hospital chairs she had been basically living in and her sister sitting on the bed, watching TV.

"Hi, sissy." Kara bouncing in her spot, beaming up at her.

Cassidy felt a real smile on her face seeing her little sister. "Hey, Little One." She climbed into the bed next to her and she wrapped her arm around the small girl; the two falling back against the pillows.

"How was it?" Teresa turned the TV down and concentrated on her oldest daughter.

"Good, they're releasing me tomorrow morning." She yawed and rested her head against Kara's.

"That's fantastic!" The older women grinned, but saw that her face didn't hold the same enthusiasm. "Why aren't you more excited?"

"I asked the same question." Stiles sat in the chair on the opposite side of the bed.

She closed her eyes and counted down from ten. Maybe she could use the same technique in other settings. "I'm just tired." Her voice held no emotion. "Can we please just drop it?"

"Maybe you should get some sleep."

"Thank you, Stiles, for that riveting knowledge we have already discussed. Maybe you should become a doctor as well." She couldn't even stop the venom that just poured out of her mouth. She was just so damn tired of everyone treating her like she was made of glass and ready to break at any second.

His hands scrubbed his face, annoyed, and his jaw was clenched tight. "I'm going to head out." He stood from his seat; trying really hard to not let his anger show. He knew he wasn't wanted there by her and it made him distressed. "Promised Malia I'd help her study anyways." He walked towards the door and opened it. "I'll see you tomorrow morning for your release." And he closed the door behind him.

Even with him out of the room, the tension was still high. The annoyance present in the air from his words. But the only thing she caught out of what he said was about Malia. Of course he went running to Malia. He didn't get his way with her so he moved on to the next person that he could baby. It was a double negative. Yes, she didn't want him there at the moment but she also didn't want him to be with her. She knew she sounded like a raging, psychotic girlfriend but she couldn't stop it.

The door opened again, this time Andy appearing on the other side.

"Why did I just see Stiles storming down the hallway?" He questioned the three girls in the room.

"How did you even get here?" Teresa sat up in her chair, surprised by her son's appearances.

"Bike." He said nonchalantly, like it was no big deal.

The mother rubbed forehead; her children giving her a headache by their antics. "Andy, take Kara to get a snack" She pulled money out of her purse and handed it to the boy.

The two younger Snyder's left the room, leaving the other two in another tension filled silence.

Cassidy sat on her bed, watching some talk show that was on, and picking at the sleeves of the sweater she was wearing. It was one of the sweaters that Isaac had left behind when he moved. It was thick and it hung loose around her body. It made her feel safe and if she breathed in deep enough she could still smell his cologne mixed into it. Or she had trained herself to have his scent implanted in her head.

Her mother watched her closely, trying to get some kind of reaction from her daughter.

"You want to explain that little outburst?"

"Nope."

"Cassidy, that boy just walked out of here looking like a kicked puppy. All he's been doing is caring about you since you got in here. He's been at your side night and day."

"Yes, I'm quite aware of the never leaving part." She pulled the sweater tight around her body.

"Shrink into that sweater as much as you want, but Isaac is not here to get you out this time."

The younger girl glared over towards her mother. "You're right. If he was here he would have broken me out of this prison by now."

"Why won't you let us look over your well being for once?" Teresa turned the TV off, trying to grab her daughter's full attention.

Instead, she simply shrunk lower in her bed and turned her back towards her mother. "I'm tired. I'm going to sleep for a little."

She could hear the heavy sigh from her mother. "I'm just worried about you, kiddo."

Cassidy ignored her mother's plea and closed her eyes tight. Wanting to get away from the real world.

Something that had definitely changed since her 'accident' was her sleeping situation. The girl that use to only get on average 4 to 5 hours of sleep a night had now been sleeping with no issue. In fact all she did was sleep. She spent more hours of her day in her dreams than anything else. Those dreams were not calming in the least though. They mostly involved her running from something or someone, trying to stay away from death, or her friends being tortured.

Her mind was a mess despite what she told the doctors. But if she ever told them about what played in her head when her eyes were closed, they would lock her up so fast in Eichen House there wouldn't be no time to blink. Hey, maybe she could be bunk bed buddies with Peter Hale. Wouldn't that be a party!

No, the only person she told any of it to was Lydia. The girl that understood her; the girl that had her own plague of nightmares at one time. She didn't judge her and she certainly didn't give her a fake sympathetic smile. Two years ago there would be no chance in hell of the two even coming within 3 feet from each other. Now the two had become best friends. They had relied on each other for support after having both of their best friends ripped from their lives. One worse than the other.

Cassidy didn't know how long she had been out, or even what time it was when she finally awoke later on. All she knew was that the lights were off and there was no sun shining through the window. The only light that was on was coming from the TV. What surprised her more was the boy sitting in the chair next to her bed, watching the TV intently.

"Liam?" Her voice rasped from just waking up.

At the sound of his name he looked over at her with a soft smile.

"What are you doing here?" She sat up against her pillows, attempting to tame her wavy, mess of hair.

"Came by to give my dad dinner, and I thought I'd see how you were." He kicked his legs up so they rested against the bed to get comfortable. Now not worrying about waking her like before.

"How long have you been here?" She looked over to the clock on the TV Box seeing that it was 10 pm.

"About an hour. It's okay, I got a few episodes of The Office in." His head nodded towards the screen.

She chuckled and rested back. The two didn't talk for a while, just watched the show and laughed at Dwight's antics. At a commercial he looked over at her again.

"Heard you get to bust out of here tomorrow. What did you have to do for them to finally allow it?"

"Good behavior and a gold star on my report card." The two joked.

There was easiness between the two; something she really needed at the moment. He had come by a few times to check on her, being that he was also a worried wreck when he heard she had been hurt while they were in Mexico. Scott might have been his Alpha, but she held that type of important status to him as well. But cooled down his worry when he heard she could breathe on her own. She was strong, even for just being a human, and he looked up to her for that.

"Guess it would be too soon to ask if you were coming to the game then tomorrow?" He looked hopeful but he already knew the answer.

"I wish I could come and support you, kid, but I don't think I'll be up to it yet." She gave him a meek smile.

"I figured, but wanted to ask anyways."

"You'll kick ass, no matter what." She patted his shin that was close to her. "You have control of your wolf now, so it won't be a problem. Just be cool, and score a shot for me would ya?"

He looked at her confused. "Not that I totally wouldn't, but shouldn't you be asking your boyfriend for that?"

She crossed her arms and cleared her throat. The situation that happen earlier was still present in her mind.

"What?" He noticed the uneasiness on her face. "Did you guys break up or something?"

"No, I just kinda kicked him out."

"What could Stiles have done so badly? Did he bring Malia with him?" He joked. Liam could feel her glare burning holes through his skull.

"I'm about to kick you out."

He nudged her with his foot. "Tell me what happen."

"He's just been pissing me off lately. He's been babying me and just is constantly questioning me. I swear, if he could, he would handcuff himself to me."

"And you got annoyed?"

"Yeah. I'm not a person that likes attention 24/7. So, I snapped and he left."

"Maybe you should tell him that?" Liam shrugged.

"That's the thing through; he knows that. Him, of all the people in the world, should understand that." She pulled the sweater tight around her body again. She felt safer here talking to Liam, but she still wished Isaac was there.

That thought alone made her realize something. She should be wanting her boyfriend there. She should want him cuddled up close to her in the small hospital bed, not out of her sight. It made her stomach ache at her emotions. All she wanted was her best friend sitting next to her, making fun of the doctors, and staying up late talking about stupid infomercials that were playing on TV. That stomach ache turned into a punch in the gut. The thoughts weren't romantic at all; they never had been for each other and never would be. It was just a lack of comfort from having him thousands of miles away. Where was that ache for Stiles?

"Maybe you need a break?"

Liam's question returned Cassidy to the present. The words were blunt, but they were the ones in the back of her mind that she refused to say out loud. But did she even want them out loud?

"No." She shook her head. "We can move past this."

The two became quiet again, returning to the show. Not long after the two fell asleep. Dreams plagued her sleep again. These involved Stiles, and to her dismay, Malia. They were together, kissing, toughing, holding each other. And she was stuck in place watching from the sidelines.

"_You should have known this would happen."_ Dream Stiles smirked at her.

The smirk was the last thing she remembered before she felt herself being shaken awake. Her eyes snapped open finding her mother hovering over the side of her bed. She turned to the other side, finding the chair Liam had been sitting in empty. She assumed at some point during the night he had taken off while she was sleeping.

"You ready to go home, sweetie?" Teresa gave her a soft smile.

"Yeah." Her mind was still in a haze from sleep.

She grabbed the bag of clothes her mother had brought with her and went into the bathroom to change. As much as she tried she couldn't keep her glance away from the mirror as she changed. Her eyes immediately found the fresh scare from the dagger. She would have it forever. A constant reminder of what happen. It was an ugly mark on her skin that she didn't like to talk about.

She quickly pulled her shirt over her head to get the sight away from her, the sweater finding its way back around her shoulders. She attempted to tame her wild mess of hair before heading back into the room. Upon entering, she found her father, Stiles, and Melissa had also joined her mother. The thing that stood out more than the rest was the black and silver wheelchair stationed in the middle of them all.

"Really, Melissa." The girl whined.

"Protocol, kiddo." The nurse smiled at her.

"We already signed the papers so we're ready to go when you are." Her father, Carl, hiked her bag of items that they had brought for her during the last three weeks over his shoulder.

Cassidy 'umphed' as she plopped in the wheel chair, feeling so helpless; again. Stiles took it upon himself to wheel her out of the room. The tension was still there between them, along with the conversation Liam and her had running through her head. She pushed it aside as she was wheeled down the hallway.

As soon as she was out the door she took a deep breath of fresh air. The sun beating down on her skin brought a light smile to her face, one that Stiles didn't miss. Once they stopped at the car, she more than jumped out of the chair and waited as her father unlocked the door. She head her mother thanking Melissa for everything as she waited in the car for everyone to get in and head home.

"Don't you have school?" She asked Stiles as he slid in next to her.

"Yeah, but my dad allowed me to go in late." He answered; happy she was actually talking to him.

"But didn't you have morning practice? I mean you have a game tonight." Her words came tumbling out one after another.

"I wanted to make sure my girlfriend got home. Is that okay with you?" He said right back, his eyebrows raised high.

She nodded her head; her eyes wavering down. There was the awkwardness again. Her eyes stayed looking out her window as they made their way to the house. It felt like a year since she had seen the outside world.

"Feel good to be out, Cassi?" Her father looked back at her through the rear view mirror.

"You have no idea." She sighed, letting her head rest against the head rest.

"I know you just got out, and this is the last thing you want to think of-"

"-Carl." Teresa tried to cut off her husband, knowing where he was going with this.

"It needs to be talked about, Teresa." He glanced over at his wife in the passenger seat.

"What?" She looked back and forth from her parents.

"You're going to be seeing Dr. Stappen again."

"Are you serious?" She sat up in her seat at the mention of her therapist.

"You're going to have sessions every Tuesday and Thursday after school."

Anger spread throughout her body. "You didn't seriously believe what the doctors said do you?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore, Cassidy." Her father's voice booming through the car. "Your actions have been short with everyone and your attitude is getting worse."

"Because I've been cooped up in a hospital for no reason for the past 3 weeks!" She looked over to try to get help from Stiles, but he kept his head down, staying clear of the conversation. "I didn't do this on purpose!"

"Then your sessions won't be that long then." He turned down their street.

"Mom, you agree with this?"

"It's only for a while, Cassi." Her voice was low.

The car parked in the driveway and Cassidy immediately jumped out, slamming the door behind her. She used the hidden key to open the door, not bothering to wait. She instantly ran up the stairs and into her room. She knew she was throwing a child-like temper tantrum, but she was pissed. Her parents thought she was suicidal. Not long after Stiles entered the room with her bag in hand, closing the door behind him.

"Can you believe them?" She started pacing her room. "They actually think I'm going mental! God, if they only knew."

"They're just worried, Cas." He set her bag on the bed.

"Yeah, so worried they couldn't even talk about it first with me, before sending me back there. Right?"

She looked over at him, but got no response. He did the very Stiles like thing when he wanted to avoid a situation, head down, one hand scratching the back of his neck while the other one was stuffed in his pocket.

"Oh my god." Her face dropped. "You agree with them." She walked over towards her closet and kicked off her shoes with haste. "My own boyfriend thinks I'm going crazy."

"I don't think you're going crazy." He walked over to her and tried to rest his hands on her shoulders but she straightaway shrugged away from him. "Maybe it won't be so bad. I mean you have been really irritated lately."

She looked over at him with disgust all over her face. "My parents don't believe me. You don't believe me. I have no one on my side."

"I'm always on your side, Cas." He walked over to her again and carefully took her hands in his. "You believe me, don't you?"

Her head stayed down, eyes locked on their hands. The feeling of his hands didn't comfort her; in fact she felt like she was burning. Her thoughts raced back to her revelation last night, and then to the dream she had. At the memory of his lips on Malia's she let his hands go. It was a dream but she couldn't let it go. She felt the ache in her stomach again.

"I think we should take a break."

The words came out so quietly she didn't even know if he heard them. But when she lifted her head to look at him, she knew he did. His eyes were wide and his whole body went rigid.

"Cas…"

"If I am the way you say I am then I need sometime by myself." She took a step away from him.

"No, no no no. That's not what I meant." He chocked out, he didn't know what to do.

"Yes it is." She felt no emotion in her voice. "We need a break."

"Cassidy…I love you."

She closed her eyes tight at the words. She even tried closing her heart. "Please, go." She refused to open her eyes again. She couldn't look at his face again. She couldn't see the pain in his eyes. She heard his shuffling and then the door closing behind him. She hesitantly opened her eyes to the empty room. She let out a shaky breath as her eyes fell on the bracelet he had given her. He must have placed it on her dresser before leaving.

She couldn't control her body as she fell to the floor. No tears came out, just a steady realization that she just lost a part of her heart.

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><p>She pretty much slept through the rest of Friday and Saturday. The only time she came out of her room was to use the bathroom or pick at whatever meal her parents were making her eat. She had no appetite. The smell of food was actually making her nauseous. She refused to talk to anyone but her siblings. Her phone had missed calls and messages from her friends. Everyone was trying to get a hold of her.<p>

Except one.

She wasn't surprised Stiles hadn't tried to talk to her. She knew she hurt him. But the thing she wasn't quite sure of was her own emotions. She hadn't cried; not once. She couldn't even tell if she was upset or not by the 'break up'. She was just constantly tired.

When her eyes opened to the bright light Sunday morning she was surprised by the person standing next to her window, where the curtains were pushed aside.

"Good morning, sunshine." Lydia chirped. "Glad to know you are alive and just ignoring all of my calls." She walked over to Cassidy's closet and grabbed her suitcase out.

"Lydia, what are you doing?" She sat up in her bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Watching the bubbly redhead run around her room was confusing her. She looked over at her alarm clock to see that it was only 8 AM.

She jumped when the suitcase was slammed on her bed.

"We are going to Paris." She opened the suitcase and started on her wardrobe.

"What?" The brunette watched her clothes start to pile in the case.

"Your mother called me and said how she had a show in Paris this week. She asked me to go cause we both know you wouldn't go willingly. And god only know, this will be good for you." She held up some shirts to try to decide which to take. She shook her head, agreeing on both and throwing them in.

Cassidy had completely forgotten about the show. "Good to know you and my mother have biffed out on my accord."

"I'm going to ignore that comment and blame it on the break up."

Cassidy's head whipped up in surprise. "How did you-"

"-know?" She was done with clothes and moved on to her make up. "Well once Stiles never showed up to the game Friday, Scott and I knew something was up."

Lydia caught sight of her friend's gloomy face. She sighed and took the time to sit down on the side of the bed next to her. She carefully put her hand on top of her friend's.

"Lyd…" Cassidy honestly didn't know what to say.

"Hey," she grasped her hand tighter, "we don't have to talk about it until you are ready."

"Thank you." She took a deep breath. "But I don't think I'm up for a trip right now."

"Oh no, we're going." Lydia stood back up to keep working. "It's spring break and sitting here will make you worse. Plus, it's my birthday this week. If you don't do this for you, do this for your very dear friend who is in a desperate need of a vacation after everything that has happen this year."

Cassidy thought about it. Maybe getting away for a while could be good for her. Get away from the craziness that is Beacon Hills. She decided and get out of her bed. "Fine, but only cause you asked so nicely."

Lydia squealed and jumped to give her friend a big hug. "Yay!" She let go of Cassidy and threw a towel at her. "Now go get a shower, Snyder, we got a place to catch!"

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><p>...I come in peace, I swear. That's chapter 1 and boy is there so much to go!<p>

Please Review:Follow:Favorite: All that jazz, but seriously, if I could get at least **10 reviews** to let me know what you guys think that would be fantastic!

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	2. After The Fall

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf; only Cassidy and the world surrounding her.

After The Fall - Kodaline

(polyvore oufit on profile)

**Shout-Out to Little Bucky, summerblake, Kelly Mason, Kayela-Brown-1228, and Sendohime for the reviews and everyone else who read!**

Sometimes it's really hard to write when you're character is suppose to be sad and you are happy with life.

But we are moving on and forward.

****Welcome to The Mess I Made in the Tried & True Series!**  
><strong>

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><p><strong>After The Fall<strong>

_Are you searching for an answer_  
><em>Or just peace of mind?<em>  
><em>When your life has lost its meaning,<em>  
><em>Maybe you need a little time.<em>

Paris. This was the city of happiness, dreams, and love. Everyone wanted to visit this place at least once in their life. It was on everyone's bucket list without even writing it down. But right now, Cassidy felt like a fraud. The view in front of her was perfect. There were old fashioned buildings every way she looked, people walking around or driving in the late afternoon light to get to the places they needed to go, and all the while, the Eiffel Tower was sitting out in the sky. She should be in heaven, but her emotions were anything but content.

Lydia, her mother, and her had gotten in to the city earlier that morning. They slept on the plane as best they could, but they were still exhausted. Instead of heading to their hotel and sleeping, they decided to stay awake to get use to the time difference. They definitely didn't want to start out their time there sleeping throughout the day. The three drank massive amounts of coffee and started exploring the city. Jet lag was going to be their bitch.

Teresa played tour guide for the two teen girls since she had been there plenty of times since her teen years. Cassidy sometimes forgot about how much her mother had done in the fashion world, and she was very proud to be her daughter. Even though she rarely showed it.

But she was still a teenager and holding grudges were her forte. She was stuck between still being angry at her mother for making her go back to therapy and being excited about the sights around her.

They made their way down Avenue des Champs-Elysees. Their first stop was Arc de Triomphe. She felt like a tiny ant standing in front of the gigantic monument. They took the 284 steps up to the platform at the top. The view was incredible. You could look down dozens of streets and avenues; pointing down each one with amazement and the words 'Lets go there' spilling from their lips.

From here they moved back down the avenue stopping at the art museums Grand Palais and La Pinacotheque on the way. Lydia was so intrigued by the art it nearly took them 3 hours to get out of each. The girls stopped by a small café in the afternoon to grab a quick lunch. Cassidy knew if it wouldn't have been for her mother or Lydia she would have no idea what she was ordering or how to order it. French was not her best subject in school.

"So Ladies," Teresa took a sip from her water, "what do you think so far?"

"I think I'm in love and I never want to leave." Lydia gushed, looking around at the restaurant's walls. They were a soft peach and the details were delicately placed. This seemed to be the theme in Paris so far. "Thank you so much for bringing me, Mrs. Snyder."

"Call me Teresa, dear, and you are very welcome." The older women smiled and looked towards her own daughter. "What about you, Cassidy?"

"It's beautiful." Her voice was soft and her gaze was focused through the window next to her. Her attention was so entranced in the outside world.

"Does this make up for the past three weeks?"

"It's a start."

She was succumbed to her trance again. Her eyes followed the thousands of people that were walking up and down the street. Everyone looked so beautiful and put together to her. They each had a purpose and they each looked happy, even with the cloudy day that was over them. She wanted to look and feel like that. What was their secret? What were their day to day lives like to make them want to get up in the morning? She wanted to be a ghost in their walls to watch.

A rough elbow to her ribs made her return to the present state in front of her. Her mother sat across from her with a questioning look while Lydia sat next to her with wide eyes.

"What?" Cassidy questioned the two.

Teresa cleared her throat. "I asked if you had heard from Stiles since we landed. I'm half surprised he wasn't at the airport when we left."

"Umm…no." Cassidy pulled the sleeves of her shirt over her hands. She didn't know how to talk about this topic. She hadn't told her family about what had happen those three days ago.

"That's not like, Stiles. Did something happen?"

Lydia looked back and forth from the mother and daughter. She felt uncomfortable and didn't want to be a part of the explosion that was about to happen. "I'm gonna head to the bathroom." She set her napkin on the table and almost sprinted away from the tension.

Teresa watched her walk away confused and then looked back to see her daughter picking at the fabric of the tablecloth. "What's going on?" She was quick to know something was up from having three kids.

Cassidy shook her head, letting it stay down. "Nothing."

"Nothing meaning that it's totally normal Lydia just ran away from the table and you haven't talked to Stiles? Or normal as in that there is something going on that you won't talk about?"

She stayed quiet; counting to ten to try to stray away from the conversation.

"Cassidy, why won't you talk to me?"

Cassidy heard the upset strain in her mother's voice. "We broke up." Her blue eyes refusing to meet older brown ones.

It was quiet on the other side of the table. She didn't want to know if Teresa was upset or disappointed. She didn't look up until her mother's hand laid over her own. The look in her eyes was concern. A different kind of concern then she saw in the hospital, it was full of remorse for her daughter.

"When did it happen?"

"Friday…after I got home."

"I'm so sorry, baby." She squeezed her hand for comfort. "Did he say why?"

"I broke up with him." Her throat was tightening. This was the first time she was saying it out loud. It was becoming even truer.

"Why?" Teresa almost snapped at her daughter. She would blame the shock of the news, but Cassidy thought otherwise.

She got angry again and pulled her hand away. "Because, I did. I don't want to talk about it anymore." Yes, she fucked up but she would have expected her mother to be on her side of it at least. Isn't family supposed to be on families' side?

Teresa sighed and ran her hand through her hair; annoyed with the girls attitude. "Fine, but that is no excuse to be a brat on this trip."

"Whatever."

"This isn't just for you. This is also for Lydia and my job. You are not going to sulk in the hotel each day. You hear me?" She scolded her daughter in the middle of the restaurant.

Cassidy simply nodded her head and thanked everything that Lydia was on her way back to the table.

The rest of lunch was awkward and filled with tense conversation. And that spread out through the entire day. They continued sightseeing through the city, barely even making it through a quarter of the places they wanted to go. By 6pm hit, the three were exhausted and were ready to pass out in their hotel rooms.

* * *

><p>Cassidy had tossed and turned in her sleep, silently kicking herself for not taking one of her sleeping pills. By 7am she finally gave up on trying to get some rest. She quietly got dressed and headed downstairs to find complimentary coffee and breakfast. She skipped the food and grabbed a large cup of coffee and a tea packet and cup.<p>

She re-entered the room she was sharing with Lydia, set the tea items on the desk for when she woke up, and headed for the balcony. And that is where she had been for the past hour.

She sat on the hotel balcony, coffee cup in her hand, and her legs were brought up close to her chest.

She had always wanted to travel. Something about seeing historical places made her happy and intrigued by the events that happen there. So here she was in one of her top places she wanted to go but all she could think about was how horrible she was feeling. What the hell was wrong with her?

The balcony door opening disturbed her thoughts and she watched Lydia walk outside.

"Morning." The red-head smiled. She wore a white fluffy robe and had a towel wrapped around her hair.

Cassidy cleared her throat and put her feet on the ground. "Mornin'. How'd you sleep?"

"Surprisingly good." She sat down in the open chair. "Despite hearing you tossing and turning most of the night."

"Sorry, Lyd." She ran a hand through the mess of her hair she hadn't tamed yet.

"It's okay." Lydia pulled the towel off her head and started scrunching the damp strands.

There was a silence between the two that held so many unsaid words. Lydia wanted to ask her about Stiles, and about why she was acting the way she was. But Cassidy didn't have answers that she wanted to hear.

"I brought you up tea." Cassidy broke the silence and drank from her own cup.

Lydia let out a satisfied groan. "I don't know what is more beautiful, the fact that you got me tea or this view."

The brunette let out a laugh. The first real laugh in days. "I don't know, this view is pretty insane."

"And we should go out and explore it." Lydia hopped up from her seat and reentered the room, leaving the door open for Cassidy to follow.

She did, and watched Lydia put water in the microwave. "So what did you pack me anyways?" She pulled her suitcase onto her bed.

"Good clothes. Don't judge my taste."

"I'm not judging, I'm just wondering how much skin I'm going to be showing even though it's in the 60s." She held up a silk tank top.

"Enough to get the attention of some French boys." Lydia took her water out and sunk her tea packet in it.

"Lyd…" Cassidy rubbed her forehead. She didn't want the attention of other boys.

"We have to talk about it eventually, Cas."

"I'm not ready. I wish I was but…I can barely even admit it to myself."

She nodded. She wasn't going to push her into something she wasn't ready for yet. "Fine. But I can tell you one thing," Lydia looked at her friend with the look of understanding, "I've been where you are right now. Losing Jackson nearly ripped my heart to shreds and then after what happened with Aiden…" She closed her eyes tight, holding her emotions at bay. It was a few months ago but it still stung. "It hurts and your emotions are everywhere. Breaks suck; they wouldn't be called that if they didn't."

Cassidy wavered over her words that were so true and stung her deep.

"But you need to take that first step into moving on, and this is yours." Lydia shrugged. "We are going to make this trip count and we're in Paris, so we have to look hot doing it."

"When did you get so wise?" She threw the tank top back in her suitcase.

"When I found out love sucks but it's also an amazing thing."

Cassidy nodded her head, agreeing with her. "Why don't we look for your Spring Break fling instead of mine?"

"I can work with that, as long as you're smiling doing it." Lydia smiled herself and drank from her cup.

The two started getting ready for the day. Lydia pulled on a dress, as per usual, while Cassidy settled for pants. It may be April, but it was still cold in Paris. She pulled on red skinny jeans with a gray Aztec designed sweater. To shut Lydia up about her lackluster of clothing choices, she pulled on high heeled black boots, over the top make up, and nice jewelry. She even took her time straightening her hair and was still done before Lydia.

"Are you done yet? Cassidy groaned from her spot face down the bed.

"Don't rush perfection!" She yelled out of the bathroom where she was working on her hair.

"My mother is going to come in here and freak if we aren't out of this room soon."

"Just at you, she loves me."

Cassidy could hear the smirk in her voice. "Trust me, I know." The knock on the door made her roll off her bed. "I swear to God, I'm blaming you if this is my mother complaining we're not out yet." She groaned and opened the door.

"Not the happy noise I was expecting."

Cassidy's jaw dropped as her eyes took in the sight before her.

There on the other side of the door stood Isaac Lahey.

"Oh my fucking God!"

He smiled. "Are you just gonna stare at me all day or are you going to hug me, Snyder."

"Depends. Are you going to disappear when I touch you?"

"I guess you'll just have to find out."

Her body finally unfroze and jumped into his arms, her own wrapping tight around his neck. His one arm slung around her back while his other hand came up to hold the back of her head in place. Just like he always did when he hugged her.

"I can't believe you're here." He whispered into her hair.

For the first time in weeks she felt warm. A warmth that spread from the outside in. It turned into happiness. Real happiness that she knew only Isaac could do for her. Her best friend was in front of her.

"What are you doing here?" She slowly released him from her grip.

"I was told by a little birdy you were coming to Paris and that I had to drop whatever I was doing and see you."

"For how long?"

"The week." He turned and grabbed his suitcase. "That is, if you'll have me."

"Yes, she'll have you!" Lydia poked her head out of the bathroom with a smile. "Hey Isaac."

"Nice to see you, Lydia."

"Did you know?" Cassidy asked her as the two walked into the room.

"Of course. Do you really think it takes me this long to get ready?" Lydia rolled her eyes and went back to actually finish getting ready instead of stalling this time.

"It's a good thing I like the both of you, cause I hate surprises." Cassidy gave a fake glare to Isaac, making her nose scrunch up.

He dropped his bag in the corner. "Speaking of, the next time you're in the hospital a text saying, 'Cas is in the hospital but don't worry' is not okay."

"What sent that?"

"Your brother. Good thing I'm a werewolf because I nearly had a heart attack." He held his chest.

Lydia laughed along with her as she finally made her way out of the bathroom.

"I'm sorry, but I'm okay. I swear." She raised her pinky finger up to him.

He narrowed his eyes at her, but wrapped his own finger around hers. "Well, no spike heartbeat but I still don't believe you."

"Well I am. I'm living proof of it." She gave him a big smile.

"Fine, I'll let it slide for now."

"Knock knock." A voice came from the open door they forgot to close. The three teens looked over to see Teresa entering. "I see the gift has arrived." She smiled at the tall boy.

"I made it safe and sound." Isaac beamed at the woman who was like his mother.

"Well give me a hug damn it." She wrapped the boy in her arms, missing him just the same. "It's good to see you, kiddo."

"You too, Teresa." He let her go.

"Well," she looked at the three faces, "are we ready for day 2?"

The three agreed and were off. They took the metro through the city, letting Isaac take the lead since he knew the most about the environment.

"So…where are you taking us?" Lydia asked as they stepped back out onto the city street. She had a map stretched out in her hands trying to figure out where they were, but they were moving so fast with people around she didn't have enough time to just read the street signs.

"Somewhere special." Isaac smirked and continued to lead them.

"Can't you just give me a hint? I want to know-HEY!" Lydia screeched as he ripped the map out of her hands and folded it into a crumbled mess. Both Snyder women stood behind them, holding back laughs as the scene unfolded in front of them. No pun intended.

"Lydia, look around you! For one second can you please stop scrutinizing every detail and just take in this once in a lifetime moment?" He looked at her sincerely and held out the mess of the folded map. "Please?"

She crossed her arms with a pout. Lydia Martin was never one to give up a fight, but she had to admit he was right. "You owe me a new map, Lahey." She grabbed the paper and stuck it in her purse.

Isaac nodded and stepped back beside Cassidy, throwing his arm around her shoulders as they kept walking. They continued to walk down the busy street, taking in the sights around them, Isaac talking about certain things they passed. Cassidy couldn't help but look up at him in awe as he talked so passionately about the things that were now a part of his world.

"Seriously, Isaac, where are we going?" Teresa asked this time as they turned down another avenue.

"It's just up here." The four walked across the city square. A tall, gothic, church sat in front of them. But not just any church; Notre-Dame Cathedral.

"Isaac…" Cassidy's voice was so light it got lost in the air by the architecture that sat beautifully on the street. If it wouldn't have been for his arm around her shoulders she should have stopped walking. This had been a dream of hers, and leave it to Isaac to try to make her dreams come true.

"Surprise." He smiled down at her; that boyish smile that always lit up his entire face.

The four stood in the line to enter the cathedral surrounded by others who were either visiting or going to pay their respect. Cassidy looked up at the two bell towers that rose up in the sky.

"So why was this such a surprise?" Lydia questioned as she stared up at the building. Her long curls were waving around her head in the wind.

"I've wanted to come here since I was a kid." Cassidy smiled lightly, biting her lip keep from beaming. She felt like a little kid on Christmas.

Teresa laughed. "I remember as a kid you told me you wanted to get married here."

"She also would attempt to draw every single part of it." Isaac waved his hand up at the architecture. "I'm pretty sure you know every single little notch in the corners."

"Why?" Lydia looked at her friends. "I mean I understand it's beautiful, but not something that little girls normally dream about."

Cassidy shrugged. "I remember seeing it on a post card from Mom." She smiled over at her mother for the first time in a while. "You were here for a design meeting or something, right?"

"Yeah." Teresa nodded, swallowing a lump in her throat. Her daughter might have been mad at her because of things in the past three weeks, but it still was a rewarding feeling knowing you were the reason your child loved something so much.

"I was obsessed with it ever since." Cassidy followed line that was moving. "I can't believe we're here."

Isaac felt proud over the fact that he, first of all still remembered her dreams, and second, the look of overwhelming joy that was shining on her face. He could tell something was going on with her, despite the hospital visit she was just released from. He also knew this is the last place where he would want to ask her what that problem was. "So," he wrapped both arms around her shoulders from behind, "what can you tell us about this place?"

"You don't want to hear me talk." Cassidy held on to his forearms.

"Yes we do!" Lydia exclaimed. "You'll tell us the good stuff, not the boring date stuff that we could just read in a pamphlet."

"Alright, well it took them 180 years to complete. They actually had to create a road just to bring items in to build it."

"What are those men?" Lydia pointed at the multiple statues that lined just above the main gates.

"That's the Gallery of Kings. There are twenty-eight kings that line up, representing the kings of Judah and Israel." Cassidy recited as if it was just common knowledge that anyone would know. "They were actually beheaded during the Revolution."

As they continued to wait outside, she told them more about the outside. She explained to them the four statues that sat in the walls by the entrance, the top statue of Mary showing of her child, Jesus, to the city with two angels on either side of them, and the large rose window that sat in the middle of the north cathedral. She took multiple pictures of everything that surrounded them, never wanting to forget a second of it.

They finally made it inside and were immediately taken aback by the beauty. There were candles lit against each wall and corners. From the outside it was gigantic, but being in the towers felt almost empowering. With your neck bent all the way back it was still hard to see the very top of the ceiling. There were large beams on either side of the middle walk way that everyone was using to get to different points of the room.

They took their time looking at all the treasury that was scattered in cases around the room and the ones that were hung on the wall. The thing that caught the most attention was the colossal stained glass rose window on the south wall. It was a wheel of circles and semicircle, decorated with diverse colors and lines. You had to get closer to realize that each circle held a picture. These panes were one of the things that survived during the war. They were in different spots but it still was the original value.

At the moment, Cassidy stood at the main alter looking up at the Crown of Light. The orbs of light were caught in her eyes. A body came to stand next to hers, looking up at the same light. She looked over to see her mom standing there, not trying to get her to talk or trying to get her to do something, just standing there letting her take in her surroundings. The fight from yesterday still stuck in her mind.

"I'm sorry." Cassidy's voice was in a whisper due to their environment. "For yesterday…I'm sorry."

Teresa grabbed a hold of her hand and gave it a soft squeeze. "It's okay, baby. I know you are hurting, but seeing you so happy today," she shrugged and smiled at her daughter, "that's all that matters."

She finally tore completely away from the light and her entire body turned towards her mother. She wrapped her arms tight around her, taking Teresa back by surprise but wrapping her own around her daughter none the less.

"Thank you, mom." Cassidy said into her blonde hair. "Thank you so much for calling him."

Teresa could feel the sincerity in her voice.

The rest of the day the four did some more sightseeing all over Paris; Isaac taking them to some secret spots he had found during the months that he had been here. By the time they were finished with a late dinner they were exhausted and ready to head back to the hotel for the night. It wasn't long until Lydia was passed out in one bed and the other one with Cassidy and Isaac in it.

Cassidy wasn't sleeping yet though; she was currently looking through the millions of photos she had taken during the trip so far. She couldn't help but giggle at the one that Isaac were in. He either had sunglasses hiding his eyes or they were closed, so the glare wouldn't mess up the picture. She scrolled too far and found herself staring at a picture of her and Stiles that she had taken the night of their anniversary. Before she could even register the picture further, she shut her phone off and threw it on the chair next to the bed.

Out of sight, out of mind. That's the saying, right?

"Outburst much." Isaac whispered next to her.

She looked over at him. "I thought you were asleep."

"I can't sleep with you lying next to me taking up all the breathing room in this bed." His head turned towards her. "What's going through that head of yours, Cassidy Snyder?"

"I broke up with Stiles before we came here." Saying it was like ripping off a Band-Aid.

"Oh, okay…" He leaned on his elbow so he could look down at her. "Wasn't expecting that."

"No one was." She played with her fingers, getting really good at avoiding eye contact. She could almost feel him battling with himself, wondering if he should ask the questions or not. "You can ask me." She gave up and looked up at him.

"What happen?"

"I felt like I was being suffocated. While I was in the hospital everyone just wouldn't give me space or wouldn't leave me alone." She shrugged. "I just started losing it. My head has been so foggy."

"Like you use to be?" He was by her side during all of her low moments. The days where she wouldn't leave her bed or wouldn't talk to anyone he would be there, just sitting next to her.

She shook her head. "Not like that. I don't know what it is. My parents want me to go back to Dr. Stappen cause they think the accident was a cry for help and Stiles agreed even though he knew the real reason." It was hard for her to keep to a whisper as she got angry all over again at the memory. "So I told him I wanted a break."

Isaac fell back on his back with a sigh. "So you broke up with him because he wanted to help you?"

"No, because he wouldn't believe me. He is one of the few of all people in our lives that has never pushed me into doing something…and now he was. After everything that we have been through, I just got tired of not feeling like I have a say in my life."

"You do have a say in your life, but it's also okay sometimes for people to care."

Cassidy raised her head lightly. "I just want for once to be the one who has the upper hand."

"You're my best friend in the world, and you always will be, but I think you are so scared of change you run away before you can let it happen."

"I'm not scared of change. I'm just so tired of being hurt all the time that I get out of a situation before I'm broken apart and alone."

He stared at the ceiling for a second before looking back at her. "You say you don't want to be alone yet you pushed away one of the best things in your life."

Her eyes began to water as the words flowed through her ears. Her head fell back against the pillow, for the first time in a while wanting to cry. She hated being alone, but maybe she was the problem. She was the one pushing everyone in her life away. She was the problem.

* * *

><p>Isaac's back, they're loving Paris, and Cassidy is stuck in her head. Things are about to get even messier.<p>

Please Review:Follow:Favorite: All that jazz, but seriously, if I could get at least **10 reviews** to let me know what you guys think that would be fantastic!

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	3. Bad Taste

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf; only Cassidy and the world surrounding her.

Bad Taste - Nick Santino

(polyvore oufit on profile)

**Shout-Out to Little Bucky, Kayela-Brown-1228, Guest, and the special people on tumblr for the reviews and everyone else who read!**

Honestly starting to have Teen Wolf withdrawals. Have started re-watching from season 1.

Also, I head Jeff Davis has said he's trying to get Daniel Sharman back on the show! *fingers crossed*

**Welcome to The Mess I Made in the Tried & True Series!**

* * *

><p><strong>Bad Taste<strong>

_With a head full of stupid questions a__nd a heart full of doubt._  
><em>So where is this love? <em>_I could use it now._  
><em>I need it now.<em>

She walked into the room like she did every time she was in the house; a single knock and then entering the room. It became like second nature, never doing anything else. So when she walked in on the scene in front of her it felt like a punch in the gut by what she saw. It was like she was replaying a moment in her life but instead of her, Malia was in her place. She watched as Stiles leaned down and kissed her; his hands holding the girl's waist like he would with her. She couldn't turn away, her body just wouldn't move.

Malia pulled away from Stiles and looked over at Cassidy with a malevolent smile gracing her lips.

"He tastes so good, Cassidy. I don't know how you ever gave him up." Her eyes turned to the electric blue of her coyote.

"It's okay." Stiles looked down at the girl in his arms. "I'm better without her." He looked over now to where Cassidy stood at the doorway. He blinked his eyes and they turned the golden yellow of a werewolf. Cassidy's eyes widened as he bared his fangs to her.

"Poor little Cassidy." Malia laughed.

"No." Cassidy shook her head. She closed her eyes tight and held her hands tight over her ears.

"Cassidy." Their voices blended together with laughter that was filled with hatred.

"No!"

"Cas…"

"NO!" She yelled, feeling her body shaking with what she thought was anger.

"Cassidy!"

Her eyes opened wide and were almost blinded by the bright light that surrounded her. She blinked rapidly a couple of times, the room around her becoming clear. Standing over her was Isaac, his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion and Lydia stood at the end of the bed with worry etched across her face.

"Cassi….you okay?" Isaac carefully sat down next to her.

It was a dream. The whole scene was a dream; more like a nightmare actually. "Yeah, I'm fine." She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "What's going on?"

"You were yelling." Lydia wrapped her arms tight around her body. Watching her friend in such distress as she was sleeping really scared her. Cassidy had told her about the dreams that she had, but she never fully saw what effects happen to her after the accident.

"It was just a bad dream." Cassidy shrugged.

"The third one this week." Isaac recounted.

She rolled her eyes. She really didn't need her best friend to start questioning her sanity too. "It's fine." She pulled herself out of the mess of blankets that were wrapped around her legs. "I'm gonna get a shower." She ignored their inquisitive looks and locked herself in the bathroom.

They were right; she did keep having these nightmares. They changed each night but they still involved Stiles. Either he would just completely ignore her pleas, he would change into a werewolf, or Malia was with him. This morning she got a taste of two. But it didn't make sense to her why she was having them.

She looked at herself in the mirror, seeing the frazzled mess from sleeping. Her hair was sleek with sweat along with her shirt that stuck to her body. It looked as if she just ran across the city and back. She wished that was the real reason. She pulled her clothes off and took the hottest shower she could stand. She scrubbed every surface of her body twice; thinking that could also clear the mess in her mind. She needed to look like a new person who didn't have a problem in the world.

They had spent the last three days running around the city exploring different sights and shopping at multiple markets and stores. They spend Lydia's birthday at a nice restaurant and with Teresa's pull, got her a dress' from some of her favorite designers. Today was different though, because today was her mother's show. It was the unveiling of her new line to the public before it went on sale. More than that though, Teresa had asked Cassidy to walk the runway with the other models.

She was surprised to say the least. She had never done that. She was use to photoshoots for her mother but that was all. Not walking down a runway in front of hundreds of people. She was nervous, terribly nervous. Her stomach felt sick and it was constantly on the back of her mind.

She spent the rest of the morning freaking out. She barely ate anything at breakfast, just sucking down coffee and half an orange. Cassidy was quiet to go along with it. Isaac and Lydia couldn't tell if she was quiet because of nerves or because of their awkward encounter this morning.

"Sweetheart, you need to eat more." Teresa took a bit of her own breakfast. "You've got a big day ahead of you."

Isaac spoke around the pastry he was devouring. "Yeah, wouldn't want you to collapse on the runway."

Her stomach turned over even more at the thought.

"Isaac!" Lydia smacked his arm hard, trying to defend her friend. "You're going to do fabulous."

A few hours later they found themselves at the venue where the show was being held. Isaac and Lydia did their own thing, mostly finding their seats and Isaac attempting to calm down the red head every time she saw a designer she knew.

Cassidy walked into the backroom and the nerves just increased. There were beautiful women running about looking for their clothing or sitting in chairs getting their make-up done. She had been backstage for shows before, but this was a different circumstance.

"Cassidy Snyder." A voice spoke from behind her, making her spin around in her spot.

"That's me." She raised her hand shyly at the middle-aged women. She had a clipboard in her hand and a headset stationed around her neck ready to use at any moment. She clearly was the backstage manager.

"Perfect." She marked something down on the clipboard. "Your station is this way."

Cassidy stumbled over her feet as she followed the woman through the maze of people. If she was tripping over her feet now, how was she going to do in 5inch heels? She sat down in the seat that was assigned to her and the women left immediately to probably go help another model.

The mirror was like the ones you see in a movie, with the big lights surrounding the frame. The table connected to it was covered with make-up and hair products. Most of the people around were speaking in French and she had no idea what they were saying. She tried to stay to herself, feeling like such an outcast.

"First show?"

She looked over to her left to a girl that was in the spot next to her. She had an American accent which gave Cassidy a little bit of ease.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Well you do look like you're about to puke on your shoes. So either you're really hungover or nervous." She let out a chuckle.

"Really wishing it was a hangover."

"I'm Aaliyah, by the way." She stuck her hand out.

"Cassidy." She shook the girl's hand. Aaliyah was beautiful. She had long, platinum blonde hair with rich hazel eyes. All her features were delicate, her skim smooth and her lips soft. She had a nice base tan and her legs looked like they were miles long. The exact opposite of everything Cassidy was.

"Wait…" Aaliyah squinted at her. "Cassidy? As in Cassidy Snyder?"

"…Yes. Do I know you?"

"You're Teresa's daughter?"

"Okay, how do you know that?" Cassidy looked around to see if her biography was like hanging from the ceiling or something.

"I've seen your photoshoots so many times." She admired and turned fully in her chair to look at Cas.

"Wow." Cassidy felt a blush rise to her cheeks. "I've never been noticed before."

"Well you should be!" Aaliyah was so animated about it. "Why are you nervous now? You've become like the face of your mom's line."

She groaned and the pit of her stomach hurt more. "That's why. I'm use to just being looked at behind the camera." She slouched back in her chair. "I'm not good enough to do this." For some reason it was so much easier talking to someone who doesn't know her past and can't judge her about it.

"Well there is a trick that I use to handle those nerves." The blonde smirked and turned back in her chair to grab a glass that sat there on the table. "Want some?" She held the glass out to her.

"What is it?" Cassidy hesitantly grabbed the glass.

"A motivator."

Cassidy looked at it for a second before taking a small sip. The taste of tequila burst against her taste buds. "That's potent." She cringed slightly and handed the glass back. "Is that straight?"

Aaliyah giggled and drank more. "A splash of orange juice. It always calms my nerves."

Cassidy didn't have time to ask her anymore questions before the make-up artist and hairstylist came to her station. They immediately began prodding and pulling at her and all she could do was sit back and let them take control. Her hair was straightened, curled, and pinned. Her make-up was heavy. She had dark eye shadow, long eyelashes, and a small diamond placed on the corner of both her eyes. Her lips were a dark ruby red. By the time they were done with her she looked like a different person; a more elegant and grown up woman. The worst part was the cloud of hairspray that was sprayed around her head.

"Doesn't my daughter look like a star?" Teresa gushed as she stopped behind the chair.

"Absolutely stunning." The male hairstylist commented with a thick French accent.

"You ready, sweetheart?" She let her hands fall on her shoulders.

"I guess so." Cassidy looked up at her through the mirror.

"You're going to do fantastic. Come here."

Cassidy followed her mother over to the corner of the curtains that surrounded them. Teresa pulled the one back a little so they could peak their heads through. The room was crowded with people standing around talking or looking for their seats. It was incredible.

"Mom! There are so many people here to see your work!"

"I know, right!"

Cassidy looked over to watch her mom's eyes sparkle with excitement and nerves. "It's all for you, mama."

"True." Teresa smiled but looked back at her daughter with a sly smirk. "But they are going to be remembering you after tonight."

Her eyebrows arched in question. "Why?"

She closed the curtain and pushed Cassidy's hair behind her ears. "Because you, my beautiful daughter, will be wearing the final dress." She winked and walked away.

Cassidy was stuck in place, eyes wide in fear. She cautiously looked back behind the curtain and the amount of people seemed to multiply. She started biting on her thumb, her instinct to do when she was nervous. There were so many big shot people here and now she had more pressure on her than before. The fact that her mother trusted her with the final look was a big testimony, none the less.

She scrambled back over to her chair, noticing that Aaliyah had got her looks finished the same as her own.

"I think I'll take you up on that drink now."

By the time she put her first outfit on she had chugged three drinks. It was enough to make her concerns reduce to small butterflies and her toes numb enough in the high heels that they didn't hurt, but not enough to make her buzzed. Her mother called all the models around to have a quick pep talk and then they were off. Cassidy's first outfit was a romper with a black top and silver sequin shorts. She was thankful Aaliyah was right before her. The older girl gave her a wink and then was off down the runway.

She took a few deep breaths and then started walking when she was signaled. She kept her face poised and her hands at her sides. The lights were extremely bright as they pulsed down on her and the camera flashes nearly blinded her. It was so bright that she could barely see anyone that was back further than the second row. She got to the end of the runway, posed, and headed back.

By the time she was off the stage she could barely comprehend what just happen before she was being ripped out of one outfit and into the final dress. They fixed any small details with her hair and face before she was being pushed back in line with the rest. Cassidy could honestly say though that she was more anxious for this walk then the first.

The final dress was completely silver sequin. It came down to about mid-thigh and had long sleeves that went down the top of her thumb. It had a simple round neck line that followed into a plunging back of the dress. Her entire back was exposed up until her lower back. It was stunning.

Before she knew it, she was back off down the walkway. This time though when she walked back to the entrance she stood still, posed in the middle, and watched as her mother took her walk. She had to actually grind her teeth together to make sure she didn't smile and start applauding her mother as well. The entire room was on their feet clapping and appreciating Teresa for her work. Teresa bowed, waved, and then walked back off, pulling Cassidy off the stage with her.

The second they were back behind the curtains, she basically jumped on her mom, hugging her tight.

"That was amazing!" She enthused.

Teresa let her go, a grin broadening across her face. "It was kinda cool wasn't it?"

"More than kinda!"

"What about you, baby girl? You rock it. It wouldn't have been like that if it wasn't for you."

The two continued gushing over each other, before Teresa was summoned away to talk to press and other designers.

"See, not that hard." Aaliyah came up behind her. The two girls quickly changed out of their dresses and gave them to the backstage manager to be put away.

"This make-up is never going to come off!" Cassidy looked in the mirror at herself. It was kinda odd to see such drastic make-up paired with her street clothes. She got the jewels off her eyes but that's as far as it would go.

"Get ready to become besties with hardcore make-up wipes." Aaliyah slipped her heels on.

"Where is she?! Where is that Cassidy Snyder girl?"

Cassidy groaned as she heard Isaac's voice booming throughout the room. She turned to see him storming through, his head twisting back and forth. Good thing he was a good 2 heads above everyone else so he could find her.

"Aha!" He exclaimed when his eyes finally landed on her.

"Isaac! Slow the hell down!" Lydia was tripping behind him trying to keep up.

"Those yours?" Aaliyah nodded in their direction.

"Something like that." Cassidy sighed, but a smile still graced her face. She didn't have time to brace herself before Isaac was wrapping her in his arms and proceeding to spin them in circles.

"You were fantastic!" He yelled in her ear. He finally set her on her own two feet.

Lydia huffed behind him. "Can I hug her now, please?" Isaac reluctantly let Cassidy go so the two girls could hug. "He's right though. You looked stunning."

Cassidy let her go and smiled at both of her friends. She saw Aaliyah out of the corner of her eye still. "Oh, guys, this is Aaliyah who's also a model. Aaliyah this is Isaac and Lydia." She introduced them.

"Boyfriend?" The blonde looked from Cassidy to Isaac.

"She wishes." Isaac winked at the new girl. His confidence had definitely escalated since he moved.

Lydia rolled her eyes and addressed her. "You were fabulous as well. How long have you been modeling?"

"Oh, just a few years. I'm originally from the states as well. But I moved here about a year ago when I got the chance to do some big shows for Paris Fashion Week." Aaliyah talked about her past like it was no big deal. "I've got places I need to be, but I'm sure I'll see you again Cassidy." She hugged the girl.

"Definitely! It was great meeting you."

"It was nice meeting you guys, as well." Aaliyah said to the other two and then left.

"It was fantastic meeting you." Isaac watched her walk away until he couldn't see her anymore.

"You're disgusting." Lydia commented.

"Yet I sleep great at night." He smirked back at her.

* * *

><p>It was their last day in Paris and Cassidy was anxious. She knew once they landed at the California airport she would have to come to terms with everything she left. She wasn't ready for that yet. She liked the little bubble she stuck herself in during the week. Maybe somehow, someway, she could take it with her. She really wished she could take Isaac back with her, but that was one thing she couldn't do.<p>

Their plane was leaving later than night, so Isaac took it upon himself to steal her away for the majority of the day. He took her to get lunch and then to the Eiffel Tower one last time. She took as many pictures as she could, wanting to remember this day forever.

"I can't believe you actually get to live here." Cassidy marveled at him as they walked down the street.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool." His hands were stuck deep in his pockets. "It's not Beacon Hills though."

"Is that a sly remark to say you're coming back?" She looked up at him hopefully.

Isaac sighed. "You know I hate to make you upset, Cassi." He didn't want to say the actually words to her, but she understood.

"I can always hope." She shrugged.

The two stopped on one of the bridges that looked over the water. As Cassidy leaned against the metal bar she looked around her. She could see many couples walking about or sitting on the benches, looking absolutely in love. Like they were meant to be with each other.

"Do you believe in soulmates, Isaac?"

He hesitated, thinking it over. "I guess so. I don't know, I never really thought about it." He looked down at her. "Why do you ask?"

Cassidy shrugged, picking at the metal bar. It was starting to peel and tarnish from weather. "People always talk about soulmates and love at first sight and all that jazz-"

"-All the stuff that makes you gag." He smirked.

"Exactly!" She smiled up at him. "Anyways, I just feel like the people that are meant to be in your life will stay around and then ones that leave…they just weren't supposed to be there.

"Like fate? Everything happening for a reason."

"Yeah."

"I think that love and soulmates are two different things than anything." He looked at the water rippling in the wind. "One person takes up your soul and one person takes up your heart. Two different people with different reasons."

She never thought of it like that. "I guess so." They stayed quiet for a while letting the conversation settle over the two.

"Maybe we're soulmates." Isaac broke the silence; shrugging his shoulders.

"What is this, a scene from Sex in the City?"

"Well in that case I'm definitely Carrie."

"As long as I'm Charlotte." She pointed at him.

"No you're definitely Miranda." He laughed.

"What! Why?"

"Seriously? Never taking love seriously, questioning every person in your life, never believing in yourself, totally you."

"Ranting about Sex in the City, who have you become since you came here Isaac Lahey?" Cassidy joked.

"Your best friend." He nudged his shoulder into hers.

"No, you've always been that."

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in tight to his body as they continued to look out at the water. "Can I ask you something, even though I know you don't want to answer it?"

She closed her eyes knowing what he was going to ask. "Yes."

"Those nightmares you have been having are about Stiles, aren't they?"

Cassidy opened her eyes and nodded. "I don't know why."

"Maybe because you know you need to go back and fix this. Before you start protesting just hear me out." Isaac looked down at her even though she didn't meet his eyes. "I think you still love him. I think you still love him so much that you're regretting your own decision to leave him."

"I hate this feeling." She finally reveled in herself what she felt. "I want to be with him, but I'm going to hurt him. And I already did." She shook her head. "He doesn't deserve that."

"You don't think he understood what issues you had when he started this relationship? You both wouldn't have been able to get through last year if that was true."

"It's funny how we can get past a Nogitsune, but not some stupid girl." She could still feel jealousy radiating off of her and Malia was the world away.

"Has he ever given you an actual reason to doubt him?" Isaac knew just the words to say to make her rethink her entire situation.

"No." She sighed. "I hate when you're smart." She looked up at him.

He chuckled and kissed her hair. "You love me don't deny it."

"Remember when you were supposed to be the only important guy in my life? What happen to those days?"

"We grew up, sadly."

The stayed wrapped up in each other for a while. They didn't know when they were going to do this again. Just being Cassidy and Isaac.

That was until Isaac broke the silence. "Please tell me you're not going to go sit in your room reading Perks of Being a Wallflower or John Green novels with some emo band playing in the background when you get home?"

"No, I'm thinking more of The Bell Jar and then sticking my head in an oven afterwards."

"Very Sylvia Path of you."

The goodbyes were horrible. She basically clung to him until Lydia and her mother had to drag her on the plane. It was the longest plane ride of her life. She couldn't sleep and all the inflight movies were not doing much of holding her attention.

No, her attention was on a spastic boy where they were flying back to. She wanted to say she was sorry to him. She wanted them back. Isaac was right, Stiles had never done anything to actually make her believe he was going to hurt her. He was always the first person to try to help her, and she needed to start letting him. Starting today.

So by the time they made it to California safely, she was eager to get in the car and get on the road. She gave Lydia a big hug and promised to see her Monday for school before she got in the car with her own mother.

Cassidy and Teresa were quiet until she knew they were reaching the street she wanted to stop at.

"Can you drop me off at Stiles'?" She fidgeted in the passenger seat

"Umm….yeah, sure." Teresa was surprised, but wasn't going to deny her daughter this. It didn't take long for the car to stop in front of the house. Cassidy started to open the door. "Do you want me to wait?"

"No, it's okay. I'll ask Stiles to drop me off later." She smiled and got out. Before she could close the door she stuck her head back in. "Thanks, mom. For everything."

"No problem, baby. Go get him." She winked at her daughter.

Cassidy closed the door and stood watching as her mom drove away. The Sheriff's car was gone but the blue jeep sat in the driveway. She took a deep breath and headed for the door. The screen door was the only thing blocking her from entering the house. She opened it and walked inside.

"Hello?" She called out to the empty downstairs. There was no response.

She started her way up the stairs and to his bedroom. It still confused her that she heard no sound in the entire house. It was very unlike him. She finally found herself in front of his closed door. She took a few deep breaths and decided to head inside.

But what she found was something out of her dreams.

She found Stiles; half naked on his bed hovering over a shirtless Malia. Cassidy's eyes grew wide and she could feel the bile rising up her throat. She blinked her eyes hard but the dream didn't end this time. Her sharp intake of breath broke the two apart and had Stiles' head snapping up in her direction.

"Cassidy." His eyes were wide, utterly surprised to find her standing in his doorway.

"S-sorry." She stuttered out and ran straight back out the door.

She could hear him yelling her name after her but she just kept running. Running straight out of the house and down the street. She didn't stop until she was a good 5 blocks away. Her body started dry heaving until she puked everything that was in her up.

Everything wasn't going to get better after Paris.

* * *

><p>...so...<p>

I swear...I come in peace. This hurt me more than you think.

Please Review:Follow:Favorite: All that jazz, but seriously, if I could get at least **10 reviews** to let me know what you guys think that would be fantastic!

**ALSO MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW MY TUMBLR FOR MORE CASSIDY!**


	4. Underdog

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf; only Cassidy and the world surrounding her.

Underdog - You Me At Six

(polyvore oufit on profile)

**Shout-Out to aPaperheaRt, toridw317, kc, Guest, Atomicity, summerblake, Kayela-Brown-1228, Luna888, **

**and the special people on tumblr for the reviews and everyone else who read!**

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone that celebrates! I put a little Thanksgiving Imagine on my Tumblr if you haven't check it out yet!

This was my first time ever writing Derek, and I'm kinda upset I haven't done that yet!

I know some people are iffy about Braeden, but I love her and am really excited to write her with Cassidy!

**Welcome to The Mess I Made in the Tried & True Series!**

* * *

><p><strong>Underdog<strong>

_Underdog, just look at the mess you made_  
><em>It such a shame, a shame<em>  
><em>We had to find out this way<em>  
><em>Revenge loves company, three makes it a crowd<em>  
><em>So wash your mouth, sit this one out<em>

If there was alarm clock that yelled "Wake the fuck up!" every morning, then there might be an ounce of her that actually got up when she needed to. Or at least get up enough to break the object in two. But it was one of those days that there could be a bomb going off right next to her in bed and it wouldn't matter. As she was attempting to open her eyes she was really regretting not closing her curtains the night before. She was actually regretting a lot of the things at the moment, but this was the biggest annoyance at the current comment.

"Kids! I hope you're up!" Carl's voice boomed up the stairs.

"Please shut up and go away." Cassidy groaned and turned over. She was still angry with him about going back to therapy, and proceeded to ignore him since they got back two days ago.

"I couldn't agree more."

A scream nearly ripped out of her throat at the voice next to her. She opened her eyes to find Andy lying in the bed next to her. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack, kid?" She rubbed hard at her eyes; sleep slowly diminishing.

"I was hoping to hide under the covers and not have to go back to school." He mumbled, the only thing the blankets weren't covering were his eyes.

"Me too, dude." The two laid there for a few more minutes, both contemplating how they could somehow sink into the mattress and stay there forever. Then it clicked that he was in her bed. "Did you sleep here all night?"

"I came in around midnight."

Cassidy watched his hazel eyes change into the mischief color of his. Andy was never a kid to tell the exact truth, always holding back all the details. He was turning into a teenage boy and that meant that he was starting to never be straight forward with their parents. One thing she was proud of though was the close relationship the two have grown with. They had gotten even closer when he started knowing the truth about werewolves.

But she could read him, and she knew why he came in here. "I'm okay, Andy. I promise. You don't have to look after me."

"Yes, I do. That's what Isaac told me to do when he left." Andy sat up in bed, his hair sticking up in odd angles.

"Speaking of Isaac…" Cassidy crawled out of the bed and grabbed the suitcase she had yet to unpack. She pulled out a manila envelope that was packed with contents. "I don't have a clue what is in it, but I had strict orders for you to only open it."

"Sweet!" The present suddenly woke the boy up. He jumped out of the bed, grabbed the envelope and ran out of the room. She couldn't help but chuckle at his abrupt enthusiasm.

She looked down at the suitcase and blew air out of her mouth, making the hair that was surrounding her face fly in different directions. Now was not the time to go through all of her crap. She closed it back up and set it back in the corner of her room. Going about her normal school routine wasn't something she was ready for.

By the time she got in her car and headed to school she was exhausted. Pulling in the school parking lot felt like a struggle all her own. She parked in the back lot so she didn't have face a lot of people immediately.

She pulled the sun visor down and looked at herself in the mirror. She checked her make-up and make sure her beanie was secure on her head. This was it. This would be the first time she would be back in this school since the attack.

"Alright, Cassidy. Here we go." She talked to herself in the mirror. "Don't look at anyone, don't talk to anyone. Keep your head up and just get to your locker." She tried to smile. "You can do this." The smile was so fake it made her sick. Throwing the mirror up, she pushed herself out of the car, grabbing her bag, and took the path to the front doors.

She could feel everyone's glances and stares. The whispers were rolling off her back as if she could feel the hallways shake with them. She was learning how to hold her head high, for herself. No one else. Her locker seemed to be miles away though and she desperately just wanted to be stationed somewhere somewhat safe.

She was horribly wrong with that decision.

Her locker was not safe. The metal door was covered with photos of Stiles and her. Without even thinking about it, her fingers started ripping the pictures off the door. She placed them face down on the upper shelf, pushing them to the back so she didn't have to face them until the end of the school year. The only photo that stayed intact was one of her and Isaac. That's all she needed.

"Hey Cassidy." Scott hesitantly approached her with Kira smiling brightly by his side.

She glanced over at them awkwardly, not knowing how this was going to pan out. "Hey guys." She started making herself busy by pulling out random books and folder.

"It's so good to have you back, Cas." Kira's usual bubbly personality was filled with strain. The three of them could all feel the tension but were trying their hardest to ignore it.

"I wish I could say I felt the same." She shrugged. Scott was shuffling his feet looking up and down the hallway as if he was searching for something or someone. Or if he was on a look out in case he got caught talking to her. "You don't have to talk to me, Scott, if you're not allowed." Blunt.

He questioningly looked down at her. "What?"

"I get it." She closed her book bag. "You have to stay on Stiles side. So I understand if you can't be seen near me." She turned to Kira. "And you being associated with Scott also puts you on that side."

Kira shook her head vigorously. "No! No, we're not on anyone's side."

"Cassidy you're still my friend." Scott finally gave her a real smile. "That doesn't change if you two are together or not. You're one of my closest friends."

"Thanks." She quirked an eyebrow at them. "But if we were such good friends you think someone would have let me know my ex-boyfriend and my enemy were now together. At least a warning text."

"Honestly, we really didn't think it would last this long." The Kitsune looked guilty.

"What do you mean last this long?" She looked back and forth from the two. She knew the two of them wouldn't lie to her. They were both such innocent and truthful friends, it was easy to manipulate them. "Was this happening while we were together?"

"No!" Scott let his hands fall on her shoulders to calm her. He could hear her heartbeat rising with each word. "No it only started during Spring Break."

Cassidy's head dropped. She honestly didn't know if that made her feel better or not about the situation. "I guess I really shouldn't be so surprised." She shook out her nerves and turned the conversation around. "Alright, so how was your guys' break?"

"Good. A lot of relaxing." Kira grinned.

"How about you, Scott McCall? Did you for once relax?" Cassidy closed her locker.

"I did actually. How was Paris?"

"It was really great. I got to see Isaac." She couldn't help the beaming smile that lit up her face at the mention of the week she got to spend with her best friend.

"How's he doing?" Scott didn't say it often, but he missed the beta quite a bit. It felt weird for a while when he wasn't living in the house anymore.

"France definitely did him well." The five minute bell rang, cutting off anything else they wanted to talk about. "I'll see you guys later."

The three split up in their own directions. Cassidy speed walked down the hallway to the classroom she was supposed to be at. She wanted to get there before a certain couple got there. She finally made it through the door of her math class and found Lydia sitting in the back waiting for her. She threw her bag on the desk next to hers, startling the poor boy in front of her. She apologized and then looked around, but didn't see any sight of the others.

"Hey." Lydia grabbed her attention. "How was the rest of your weekend?"

"It was-" Her words got choked in her throat as the sight finally walked through the door. "That good." Cassidy pointed at the two.

Lydia looked over to see Stiles and Malia basically hanging all over each other. It was a surprise they sat in two different seats at the way they were trying to conjoin each other. "What the hell is that?"

"The new couple of Beacon Hills." The bitterness slipping off of her tongue.

Before Lydia could ask any more questions, the teacher began to talk. The only thing she could be slightly okay with was the fact that it seemed all of her friends had the same reaction she did. She couldn't concentrate on them any longer and needed to get her head back into the class. She had missed almost a month of school and needed to catch up. She had been doing the readings and homework while in the hospital, but it's completely different when a teacher starts talking about it.

When the bell rang for class to be over, Cassidy barely had time to put her books away before Lydia was pulling her arm harshly to get them out of the room. But that didn't stop her from throwing a nasty glare at Stiles on the way out.

"When did that happen!?" Lydia's voiced screeched as she stomped down the hallway.

Cassidy had to almost jog to catch up with her. Heels never slowed Lydia Martin down. "Supposedly over Spring Break."

"And how did you find out?"

"I walked in on them Saturday night at Stiles' house." The image was burned into her mind.

"How fucking dare he!" She stopped walked, making Cassidy hold up also. "No, no, how dare she! This has to be all Malia's fault. Just manipulated him so easily."

"Didn't you use to tell me to get along with her?"

"That was before she went off and stole your boyfriend." Lydia rubbed her forehead, irritated with the situation. "How are you not angrier about this?"

She shrugged. "I honestly don't know how to really feel about the situation. Everything is just happening so fast."

The red head shook her head forcefully. "I don't like this. I don't like this one bit."

"Well there's nothing we can do about it." Cassidy huffed and started again before her friend could go on another rant. "Go to class. You can complain about it later." She tapped the girl's arm and walked off to her next class.

She did realize she was playing this off really well. But she wasn't a person that makes a huge scene over something. It was her fault. She broke up with him, he moved on. She fucked up. That's all that could be said. At least for her side.

Malia on the other hand made sure it was known.

Every time Cassidy looked to see the two of them together the coyote made sure she either kissed him or did some type of PDA in front of her. It was as if Malia wanted her to come after her. She wasn't going to stoop to that level.

By the time she got home she was too exhausted to even care anymore. She took a nap and had dinner, finally moving on to homework later on.

She had no desire to sit in her room, so she grabbed all of her books and decided to sit out front on the porch to get her work done. Finals were coming up in a few weeks so she needed to get her shit together. She turned music on from her phone and got to work. Papers, books, pens, highlighters surrounded her.

She hadn't realized how long she had been working until the sound of the screen door closing broke her train of thought. It was almost completely dark and if it wasn't for the porch light she wouldn't have been able to see. She watched as her father shuffled over towards her.

"I thought you could use a break." He held a bowl out to her. It was filled with mint chocolate chip ice cream with two cherries sitting on top. "And possibly a peace offering."

She bit her lip contemplating it. He knew she couldn't turn down her favorite ice cream. So, he totally used that against her. "Fine." She threw down her pencil and grabbed the bowl.

Carl tried to hide his smile and sat down on the chair next to her. "What are you working on?"

"Hmm…" She licked the spoon. "A little bit of everything. Just trying to catch up."

"Anything I can help with?" He grabbed a paper to read it.

"If you could memorize the periodic table for me that would be awesome."

"I have to say science was my worst subject in school. Math, though, I got that."

She shrugged and pulled the paper out of her math book. "I think I'm good with that." Cassidy handed him the paper to check it.

"You definitely got that from me. Your mother is the worst with numbers."

"It's funny how she owns a business."

"Thanks to me." Carl laughed. "When she first started, I had to calculate everything for her."

"Atleast she knows how to use a measuring tape." She bit one of the cherries off the stem.

"Isn't that the truth."

It became quiet between the two. That awkward tension still evident between them.

"Look, Cassi," he scratched his jaw, "I know you're still upset with me over the therapy sessions and I know I should have approached it better."

She had to literally bite down on her tongue to not make a comment.

"I just worry about you kids so much and sometimes I get too passionate about things." He nudged her. "Like you."

"I know you do, I just didn't enjoy getting ambushed like that right after getting out."

"And I'm sorry. But I still want you to do these sessions, even if it's just for a little while."

She nodded her head. Maybe it would be good to go back for a few sessions. Hopefully the dreams would stop. "I know. Hopefully it will do me good."

"Alright, well I'll let you get back to work." He stood up. Before he left, he bent down to give her a kiss on the forehead. "Love you, kid."

"Love you too, dad."

She smiled lightly as she watched her father walk back inside. Looking back down at her homework, the smile disintegrated. She was truly ready to graduate. The sound of a car brought Cassidy's head back up to find the familiar blue jeep driving down the road. The only thing she could see inside was Stiles driving with his arm propped up on the window holding his head in his hand. He didn't look over at all. She couldn't look away until the jeep's break lights were out of sight.

Why did he drive down the street? She knew for a fact that her house is out of the way from anywhere he could have been. Why the hell did he do that! She threw her spoon in the bowl.

She angrily slammed her book shut and stood up. Cassidy grabbed all of her items and stomped into the house. Walking straight to her room, she closed the bedroom door and set her stuff on the desk. A picture frame fell off the desk and landed with a thud on the carpet. She bent down to pick it up but wished she didn't when she turned it over.

Of course it was a photo of her and Stiles. Her heart ached and throat began to close up. She was so hurt. She might not show it to people, but she was heartbroken. But it was her fault. The whole thing was her fault. She broke up with him. But he also didn't need to run after Malia.

Cassidy went to her closet and pulled an old box she had filled with random items in it off the shelf. She dumped the contents on her bed and started carrying it around her room. Everything that reminded her of him, things that he gave her, and items that were his that he left were thrown in the box. Sweatshirts, pictures, movies, notebooks, the mixtape he made her, the bracelet, and everything else.

She stashed the box in the corner when she was done. It nearly burned her hands to touch everything.

She just needed to move past him. She needed to get over the boy.

* * *

><p>She walked into the doctor's office the following day feeling nervous but annoyed more than anything. It had been a few months since she had an appointment. She had been better. Had been. She let the receptionist know she was there and took a seat in the waiting room. Waiting rooms were always a horrible place. Almost everyone that sat in one of those plastic chairs were anxious over something, whether it bring good or bad news. Right now though she wasn't waiting for news, she was waiting to explain how she felt to someone who would never understand her point of view.<p>

"Cassidy?"

Her head lifted to the voice to see Dr. Stappen waiting in the doorway for her.

She gave him a small nod, grabbed her bag and walked towards him. His office felt as stuffy as the last time she was there. She sat on the red, pleather chair that was in the corner of the room and waited for him to get situated across from her.

"It's been awhile Cassidy." He sat down; a light smile graced his face. "How have you been?"

She rolled her eyes. Did he really just ask her that? "As good as having to come back, obviously?"

"Sarcasm is still as evident as ever I see." He wrote something down the notepad he held.

"I don't know why you would ever think it would stop."

"Why do you think you use sarcasm?"

Bring on the double meaning questions. "Because when people ask ridiculous questions they deserve a completely ridiculous response."

"So you would say people annoy you quickly?"

"Sure."

"So…" He adjusted the notepad, looking at something under the papers, "you recently left the hospital."

"Yes." She tucked her right leg under her. "And before you ask, no I did not hurt myself on purpose or ever think about hurting myself."

He nodded, writing more. "How have you been feeling since the accident?"

She shrugged. "Fine."

"How about sleeping? Have you been taking your pills?"

Cassidy bit her lip, being cautious with how she was going to be explaining herself. "I've been sleeping, but I've been having these nightmares. They seem to be so realistic but then something about them is off and I wake up."

Dr. Stappen nodded. "Do they happen often?"

"Every night since my accident." She picked at the skin around her thumb.

"That's a very common thing to happen with accident victims. It's called Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. You tend to be quiet about your problems and your inner mind plays tricks on you. For instance the dreams."

"So I can't even do anything about it?"

"You need to find a release."

"What kind of release?'

"Something that makes you feel stronger. Makes you feel like you have an outlet to go to if something goes bad."

Makes you feel stronger. That was something that had always run through the back of her mind. She wanted to always be able to help, but never felt like she had a talent that was good enough. But maybe she needed someone's help. Maybe she needed someone that could teach her. But she needed someone that wouldn't judge her.

She barely paid attention to Dr. Stappen the rest of the session. Her mind was on one thing, and she was counting down the seconds until she was free. Once she was free, she ran out to her car and was on her way to the one destination she rarely ever went willingly. She hadn't heard much from Derek since they came back from Mexico, knowing he was probably figuring out his new wolf abilities.

Walking up the steps to his loft felt like a dead foot after dead foot. Standing on the other side of the door she took deep breaths, her heart pounding against her chest. This was so rushed; she didn't even give herself time to figure out how she was going to ask.

She jumped back when the door was pulled open just big enough for Derek's body to be seen.

"Do you plan on standing at my door step all day or do you want to come in?" He smiled at her. A real smile that Cassidy had only ever seen a few times on his face.

"Only if I'm allowed in." Her hands were stuffed deep in her back pockets.

He stepped aside and gestured for her to enter. She cautiously walked over the threshold and down the steps.

"So, what can I do for you Cassidy?" He closed the door and followed her down the stairs.

"Umm…" She had never really had a one on one conversation with him before. She was either always with one of the guys when she was with him. The first conversation with him was him telling her about how he turned Isaac, and that was awkward and new to her. "I was wondering actually if Braeden was here?"

"She just ran out for some things. She should be back sometime soon if you want to wait?"

She nodded. "Yeah…yeah, sure."

"So how have been since the accident?" He leaned against the wooden table near the tall glass windows.

"I was fine a week after the accident, but they insisted I stay longer." She rolled her eyes at the past. "Doctors always think they know more than they actually do."

"I guess that's one of the best things about being a wolf, the only doctor I have to deal with is Deaton."

"I had the urge to call him while I was there, but I thought it might be kinda weird that I'm asking for a vet to come take care of me." She joked.

Derek laughed. "Would have definitely taken them by surprise. Heard you went to Paris also?"

"Yeah, my mom took Lydia and myself to get away for while."

"How was Isaac?" He asked hesitantly.

"Great. Actually the happiest I've seen him in a long time"

"That's…that's good. I'm glad everything is working for him."

She could feel the uneasiness in his voice. It was basically suffocating her. "Just say it!"

"Say what?"

"Say that you actually miss the kid and that you regret what happen! Cause I know you do." The anger that has been bottling up exploded. But for all the wrong reasons.

His jaw clenched tight and his head dropped. She could see the desperation on his face. "I do regret it." He looked back up at her. "I regret the way I treated him when I first turned him, actually the entire time I was an alpha. I was trying to take power to far. And I pushed a lot of people away in my life."

"But you're changing Derek. You seem like a completely different guy from the first time I met you. Honestly, I never thought I would be coming to your loft willingly looking for help. You're stronger now Derek."

He nodded. "So are you, Cassidy."

"No I'm not." Her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach. "But I want to be stronger. I want to be able to help and survive on my own."

"Is that why you want to talk to Braeden?"

"Yeah."

"Talk to me about what?"

The two never heard her come in, especially get a good 3 feet away from them. They were so wrapped up in their talk.

"I'll let you two talk." Derek nodded at Cassidy. He walked over to give Braeden a small kiss and then climbed the spiral staircase to give them some privacy.

"Ooookay." Braeden drawled out the word and set her bags on the table next to Cassidy. "What's going on?"

Cassidy unwrapped her arms, and tried her toughest to stand tall. "I was wondering if you would help me train."

Braeden cocked her head to the side and crossed her arms. "Train for what exactly?"

"Just to be able to stay alive. To be able to save myself and not wait for someone to rescue me."

She nodded her head and pursed her lips. "But why? Because if it's for some power trip, I won't help you."

Cassidy shook her head. "No. I just want to learn how to fight for myself but also my friends. I want to be able to help than stand on the sidelines waiting. So that I'm not left in a hospital because I couldn't take care of myself. To feel safe enough to know if something would happen to my brother and sister I could handle it."

"Okay." Braeden smiled. "I'll be in and out of town a lot, but I'll help you. But it's going to be tough and it's gonna be exhausting. So if you're serious about this, make sure you are serious for the long run."

"I will be. I promise."

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

><p>She wants to feel stronger. She'll get there eventually!<p>

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	5. Manners

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf; only Cassidy and the world surrounding her.

Manners - We Are The In Crowd

(polyvore oufit on profile)

**Shout-Out to aPaperheaRt, Guest 1, Guest 2, Anon, Emmalovesdimitri,**

**and the special people on tumblr for the reviews and everyone else who read!**

This took a lot longer to write than I thought it was going to.

But, I like this chapter and it gets an insight from different point of views.

**Welcome to The Mess I Made in the Tried & True Series!**

* * *

><p><strong>Manners<strong>

_You got too close_  
><em>You know I'm terrible<em>  
><em>At keeping track of sleep<em>  
><em>It always seems to sneak away<em>  
><em>Along with wolves like you<em>  
><em>Dressed as counting sheep<em>

_We tried_  
><em>Oh, we tried<em>  
><em>I kept my mouth shut, I kept my mouth shut<em>  
><em>What goes around comes around<em>  
><em>Now it's right back here to haunt you<em>

Waking up at 5 am had started becoming a habit. She would wake up early to go for a run, per Braeden's instructions. At first she wasn't a fan of it at all, barely making it down the street before dragging herself the rest of the way. But after a week of it, she had to say, she was getting better at it. It was actually helping her in a way. Yes, in the physical aspect, but also her mind. It was almost like a mental check for herself each morning.

She sat on her bed combing out her hair from the shower she just took. She had gotten a new bed set, another thing that she did to try to move forward with her life. Changes kept happening and she was just trying to keep up with it, actually staying ahead of the game. Her room felt empty though. There were spots on her wall where pictures use to hang of Stiles. She also didn't realize how little sweatshirts she had that weren't his.

The filled box still sat in the corner of her room. Taunting her every time she saw it. She needed to get rid of it.

Cassidy quickly got dressed. She pulled on her black jeans and a white tank top. She rushed through her makeup and left her hair go, knowing it would dry into messy curls by the time she got to school. Grabbing the rest of her stuff and the dreadful box, she headed down stairs and left before she could get caught up in whatever family nonsense would happen this morning. She was loving the fact that Lydia texted asking what coffee she wanted, because she hadn't gotten her morning fix.

She pulled into the driveway, the first thing she noticed was no blue Jeep sitting there. Her nerves settled over that. She pulled herself out of the car and grabbed the box from the backseat. Her plan was simple; drop the box off on the doorstep and get the hell out of there. She was quick. But as she was setting the box down the door opened.

Cassidy looked up hesitantly, her hair falling in her face. She found the Sheriff standing there.

"Hey, Sheriff." She backed away slightly, pulling her hair behind her ears. She had only ever once felt awkward around him and that was back when she and Stiles first started dating.

"Cassidy." He gave her a small smile and nodded.

She could only wish he felt as awkward as her. "I was…um, I was just dropping some stuff off."

"Oh." He looked down at the box, seeing some of his son's things peeking out of the top.

"Yeah, so I have to get to school." She pointed back towards her car and turned around.

"Hey, Cassidy?" He called out towards her, making her stop in her tracks and turn back around. He walked out of the doorway and down the steps. "How have you been, since you know, the accident? I'm sorry I didn't get to see you more in the hospital."

"It's fine." She waved it off. "But I'm a lot better, though. Stitched up and breathing on my own."

"Good, that's good. I'm glad." He rubbed his hands together, his sure tick to do when he was nervous. She knew the Stilinski's too well.

The two just stood there quietly, not knowing how to act around the other.

"Thank you, by the way." Cassidy broke the silence. "For saving me that day."

"Oh, Cassi, it wasn't a big deal."

"It is though. If you didn't come for us, I wouldn't be standing here right now. So, thank you."

"Well…you are very welcome." He stepped closer. "I also just want to tell you, despite everything that is going on between you and Stiles; I just want you to know if you ever need anything you can still come to me."

"I don't want to burden you." She shook her head. "I understand things are different now."

"Yeah, things are different now." He looked down, contemplating how he was going to word this. "But that doesn't mean I have stopped caring about you as who you are, Cassidy. And I just want you to know that."

She bit her lip, feeling emotional about this conversation. The Sheriff did mean a lot to her. He has been a big part of her life for over a year now. He knew more about her day to day life then her parents did. This was the first time it really hit her that it was more than just the ending of a relationship between Stiles and her, but also the people in their lives.

She was the first woman to burst into the Stilinski two man bubble since Claudia had died. She was there when Stiles was teaching him the supernatural world. The two of them faced Stiles as a Nogitsune together. He saved her from death. She had become a part of the Stilinski family whether it was said or not.

She nodded. The two looked at each other with a small smile on their faces. "Okay." She nodded.

"Alright."

"I should probably get to school now."

"Yeah, yeah, and I have to head to work." He clapped his hands together.

The two said their goodbyes and headed their separate ways. As Cassidy drove to school, she for once in a long time felt a sort of ease. It was Friday and she was quite ready to get this day over with. Her plans for the weekend weren't as easy as most. She was planning to train the entire next day with Braeden. She was constantly teaching her new things, more than even just physical training. She had been learning new mental checks that were even helping her during her therapy sessions. The more she worked the more her mind was focused on other things.

Like dealing with school for instance.

Beacon Hills was never one for gracious of high schools. The rumor mill was always on high alert. Once the news of 'high school sweethearts' Stiles Stilinski and Cassidy Snyder broke up word spread like wildfire. It caught on even faster when the news that him and Malia were now the new spot light couple. Whispers were surrounding her in every classroom she entered and stares were drawn to her down every hallway she walked through. But boy was she getting good at her sarcastic smile and her hateful stare was improving.

"Cassidy!" Liam skidded to a stop next to her as she walked down the hallway.

"Hey, dude." She smiled at him, noticing his flush cheeks and slightly damp hair. "You look like you've been running late."

"No, actually just got out of lacrosse practice." The young werewolf rubbed a hand back and forth through his hair, hoping for it to dry soon. "You're coming to the game tonight, right?"

"I don't know yet." She gritted her teeth together in uneasiness.

"Dude, you totally promised me you would come to the next game." He had a constant need to prove himself to her. It had nothing to do romantically, but just as a sister figure in his life.

"You really think sitting next to a girl who has it out for me while she cheers on my ex-boyfriend, sounds like a fun time?" She hooked her arm through his as they continued to walk. "That's a new way to throw myself to the wolves. Pun intended."

"You want me to kick her ass, cause I'll kick her ass." He puffed out his chest.

"Calm yourself, Rager. Not that I don't believe you're crazy strong now or anything, but she'd still kick your ass. And I say that out of love." She pulled him closer by the arm so their shoulders were brushing.

He pursed his lips in thought. "I could kick Stiles' ass."

She laughed thinking back to when Scott kidnapped him and Liam kicked both their butts with ease. "How 'bout you focus on winning the game tonight. It seems like you guys need all the luck you need."

"Hey!" He knocked her shoulder at the accusation. It was true though. Their season was pitiful, if that. "How about this, I will focus on winning the game if you show up tonight."

"We'll see."

Her body stopped dead in her tracks, pulling him back with her. They had turned the corner and her eyes landed on the group of their 'friends'. That word was being used lightly. Lydia stood leaning back against the lockers, Scott and Kira standing in a semi-circle next to her, and Stiles and Malia stood across from them. "Let's go a different way."

"Come on, Cassi. You can't hide from them forever." He dropped her arm and stood across from her.

"Um, have you met me? I'm plenty good at hiding from my problems." Wasn't that the truth.

"Cassidy! Liam!"

The two turned as Scott called his friend and his beta out. He held a smile on his face as he waved the two over.

"It's like ripping off a Band-Aid, right?" Liam smiled at her and threw his arm over her shoulders so he could steer them in the right direction.

"How about ten times more painful." Her feet stumbled over themselves as she tried fighting against walking, but the young werewolf was using his strength to his advantage.

"Remember," he whispered in her ear as they got closer, "my offer for an ass beating still stands."

"How about I kick your ass instead?" She gave him a vicious smile as they finally made their way to the group.

"Nice of you to finally show up, Cas." Lydia winked at her and held out one of the coffee cups she was holding.

Cassidy smiled at her as she took the cup with a thanks. "Yeah, I had something to do this morning." She mumbled her words and took a deep drink. The bitter coffee mixed with caramel burst against her taste buds. It warmed her soul. "So how was practice?" She asked as a general question to the four lacrosse players, but her focus was more so on Scott and Kira across from her, not the boy a body away.

"Good." Scott shrugged his shoulders. "A lot of Coach yelling."

"Nothing new there." Lydia said.

Kira piped up with a smile. "But he said the team we are playing against tonight have a worse record than us. So we could definitely win."

"There's the enthusiasm we need." Stiles spoke up, with sarcasm laced in his voice.

"We have two werewolves and a kitsune," Liam retold, "how could we possibly lose to them?"

"If they have their own werewolf." Lydia answered. "It seems like new ones keep popping up weekly."

"You're coming tonight, right Cas?" Scott called her out on purpose. He wanted it be known he was not taking sides, and he was doing a real good job of it.

She could feel everyone's eyes immediately fall on her. Liam's arm that was still hanging over her felt like dead weight making her want to mold into the floor. "Oh, I don't know yet. I might have to watch my brother and sister tonight."

"We'll I'll definitely be there." Malia spoke up loudly. She had been standing there quiet for quite some time, just waiting to bring herself into the conversation. Just waiting to hear what Cassidy was going to say so she could interject. "There's no way I would miss a game for anything."

Cassidy watched as she ran her hand down Stiles' arm and finally interlocked her fingers with his. He looked over and gave Malia a soft smile. She looked away quickly before she was caught watching, and that's the last thing she needed Malia to know it was getting to her.

"Well, I'm sure you guys will do great no matter what." She smiled at Scott and Kira.

Her friends continued talking and that was when she felt eyes on her. She knew it was Stiles. She dropped her head and took a drink of her coffee. She had nothing to be ashamed of, yet he could still make her stomach turn just by looking at her. She shyly looked up and looked over at him. She watched his eyes on Liam and followed his arm over to where it was placed around her shoulders.

Finally their eyes locked. It made her mouth go dry and her chest to physically hurt. This was too much for her to handle. But something that hurt her more was the way his eyes looked. They looked lifeless, a lot like they looked back when he was possessed. It made her think what people saw in her eyes when they looked at her.

She looked away, as if she was being burned by his caramel eyes. "I have to head to my locker before class." She interrupted whatever conversation was going on around them. "I'll talk to you guys later." She pulled herself out from under Liam's arm.

"I'll go with you." Lydia smiled at the group and the two quickly walked as fast as they could in the other direction. "Christ, I thought we were going to suffocate in there."

"Did you see how she just had to snap out that she was going?" Cassidy was angry. Malia had no place to talk.

"I know right." The red head felt herself getting happy off of her friend finally not giving into the drama.

"Great! I'm so glad that you can go to the game tonight. It's not like you have any other things to do with your worthless life."

"That's good. Keep it going!"

"Please just run back into the woods and stay there." She stopped at her locker.

"I like when you get feisty." Lydia cheered her on more.

Cassidy paused opening her locker, contemplating everything she just said. "What am I saying? What the hell is wrong with me? I shouldn't have said that."

"Hey, hey, hey. You are allowed to feel this way." Lydia pulled her backpack away from her and switched the books for Cassidy. "You are allowed to feel jealous and heartbroken."

"I'm not." She lied.

"Mhmm. Sure. You definitely made Stiles jealous though."

"What do you mean?"

"I thought he was going to rip Liam's arm off."

Cassidy took her bag back and closed the locker. "I wasn't trying to make him jealous." She mumbled. "And I'm not going to the game tonight. I can't sit there and act nice with her."

Lydia nodded. "Okay fine. But when you are ready, I'm there to help you."

Cassidy smiled and the two headed to class.

* * *

><p>"My daughter, the girl of comebacks, didn't say anything?" Teresa questioned as she sat at her desk, a new design drawn out on the paper in front of her.<p>

The rest of the day sucked, compared to Cassidy's morning. The minute the bell rang she wasted no time in getting to her car and getting the hell out of there.

"It just didn't feel right." Cassidy shrugged. She sat on the opposite side of the desk with Kara in her lap. The two were coloring in one of Kara's princess coloring books while their mother worked.

"Girl deserves to get her a-" She looked down at her youngest, holding back the words that she wanted to say. "She needs a good smack."

"Nice Mom." She rolled her eyes and continued coloring. "Lyd and Liam basically said the same thing."

"And Liam is who again?"

"New freshman on the lacrosse team that Scott kinda took under his wing." Cassidy had become really good at never bringing up the supernatural world in the house.

"When's Scott coming over?" Kara asked from her spot on her sister's lap.

Teresa and Cassidy couldn't help the snicker that came out of both of their mouths. Kara had a crush on Scott. She never admitted it but she would blush whenever he was around and get really shy.

"I don't know, Kara." Cassidy smooth the blonde's hair so it wasn't brushing in her face.

"Well can you ask him?" She looked up at her, hope written across her face.

"Sure. I'll ask him Monday." She turned Kara's head back towards the coloring book.

"Why don't you ask him tonight?" Teresa sketched something on the paper.

"What do you mean?"

"At the lacrosse game tonight, ask him then."

"I'm not going." Cassidy scrunched her eyebrows together.

"Well, ya see, your brother wants to go so I would like you to take him."

"Mom!"

"What? Come on he wants to go." Teresa sat back in her chair.

"What happen to everything I just told you about with Malia?" Cassidy threw her crayon on the desk.

"Stepping stones, baby."

She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to go to this damn game. So as she stomped around her room getting ready, she was really regretting telling her friends she wasn't going to make it.

"Wow, this place looks so empty now." Andy entered the room, looking at the blank spaces on the walls and certain things that are missing.

"Yeah, it is." She sighed, pulling her denim jacket on.

"So I guess this means you and Stiles are really over."

"Yes, that's what it means." Cassidy was annoyed. She really didn't want to go to the game tonight and she was taking it out of him on accident.

"So there's no way for the two of you to get back together?" He pulled his hoodie over his head.

"No, Andy."

"But I don't get it, if you still like him and he still likes you why can't you get back together?"

"Because it's more complicated than that." She huffed and pulled her bag over her shoulder.

"How? That doesn't make-"

"-Andy! Please, I don't want to talk about it anymore!" She watched him shy away from her tone. "Look, we're going to be late for the game." She walked past him towards the door.

"I guess everything doesn't last then." Andy murmured and walked past her.

The drive over to the school was quiet. The usual 10 minute drive felt like an hour. The same thought from earlier entered her head. Other people's lives were being affected by this breakup. Once again she thought about other people before her. She became a part of the Stilinski family just as much as Stiles became a part of the Snyder family.

She looked over to see her brother fidgeting with his hoodie sleeves. Something she herself would do.

"Look," Cassidy cleared her throat, "Stiles and I aren't getting back together because he is dating someone else."

"What! Why?" Andy's head snapped over to look at her.

"Because he is. I don't know really why though, kid."

"So…you're like not even friends anymore?"

"We aren't even on speaking terms. I don't see us being friends for a very long time."

"Well that's stupid." Andy muttered. She didn't know which he was talking about. "I don't understand why he would ever go to someone else."

"I'm the one that broke up with him."

"So what!" He got quiet, thinking things over again. "What's her name? The girl he's with now."

"Malia." She parked the car in one of the few spots that were left open in the school parking lot.

Andy pulled his seatbelt off. "I don't like her."

Cassidy laughed. "Well she's going to be here tonight, so just ignore anything she has to say."

The two got out of the car and make their way towards the field. Even though the team hasn't had a winning streak, that never meant the crowd lessened in the slightest. After Andy complained about having to use the bathroom and Cassidy accusing him that he was the one that wanted to come and they weren't going to be able to find seats, she leaned against the outside wall to wait. She watched people after people from the school walk by, getting ignored be each one. Just the way she wanted. She checked her phone seeing no new messages.

"No, Stiles! I don't care!"

Cassidy looked around her, hearing Lydia's voice. She looked around the corner to find Lydia and Stiles just behind the bleachers. Lydia had disgust written all over her face while Stiles looked angry, already dressed in his uniform. She really wished there weren't so many people around so she could hear their conversation better, but she got the jist of it.

"This is stupid." He rolled his eyes at her.

"No!" She pointed her finger in his face. "What's stupid is the way your _girlfriend_ has been acting towards Cassidy."

"Look, I don't have control over what Malia does!"

"Then control yourself, Stiles. Because the guy I'm looking at right now is not the same guy I thought I knew."

"Whatever, Lydia." Stiles shrugged his shoulders and walked away from her.

"Okay, I'm ready." Andy came up behind Cassidy, scaring her. She whipped around to look at her brother. He looked at her in confusion at her 'caught in the headlights' look. "What were you looking at?" He looked around the corner but saw nothing unusual.

"Nothing." She pulled a smile on her face. "Let's go get seats."

The crowd was huge. I guess they all heard about the easy win for tonight's game. Cassidy looked around, trying to re-find Lydia in this mess of people. She finally found the fiery red head up in the stands. The two siblings trudged around students to get to the top.

"Hey." Cassidy announced the twos appearance.

Lydia looked up in surprise. "Hey, I thought you weren't coming?"

Cassidy pointed back to her brother that was behind her. "Kid wanted to come." She sat down next to her friend and Andy on the seat in front of her.

"Hey, Andy." Lydia smiled at the boy. He said hello back but his focus was returned on the teams down on the field.

"So…" Lydia cleared her throat, looking over at her friend. "I'm assuming this wasn't your idea to bring him."

"What gave you that thought?" She said sarcastically, looking down at the field herself. She didn't know whether or not she should bring up the conversation that she witnessed between her and Stiles or just let it go. Her line of vision was blocked when she saw Mason and Malia sit down in front of them by her brother.

"Hey guys." Mason smiled at the two girls.

The two said their hellos back. Malia gave a smile to Lydia and completely ignored Cassidy, which she was absolutely fine with. Cassidy actually hadn't been able to talk to Mason since the accident at the school. But she assumed Liam had started filling him in on things.

"Mason, this is my little brother Andy." Cassidy introduced the two boys that were sitting next to each other.

"Oh cool! What's up dude?"

Having a guy next to him finally brought him out of the trance he had watching the field. "Not much." His head turned back as the whistle blew and the game started up.

Cassidy squinted to find the numbers of her friends that were running around in maroon. She found Kira and Scott immediately, then Stiles who was sauntering behind them. Finally she found Liam who was standing in his position looking up into the bleachers, as if he was trying to find someone. His head finally stopped when he found their group. A smile could be seen through his helmet as if seeing her there made him happy. She gave him two thumbs up for good luck.

She all of the sudden felt a pull from Andy to lean down to him. "Is that is Malia?" He whispered in her hair, looking over at the girl on the other side of Mason. She merely nodded her head with an eye roll.

The game started out okay. They got a score ahead of the opposing team right away. But other than that it was a lot of back and forth. Whenever Stiles would get the ball Malia thought this was the perfect time to become a damn cheerleader and yell out to him.

"Malia, you know you don't have to yell every single time?" Lydia looked down at the girl with annoyance on her face, like she was starting to get a headache from her.

"I just want to make sure he knows someone came here to support him."

It was a dig right towards Cassidy. She honestly couldn't tell anymore if she was doing it on purpose or the coyote hadn't learned a damn thing about being human anymore.

No one could tell where the tension was the highest at the moment. Between the group sitting on the bleachers to the team playing on the field, there was no easy breathing space. Nothing was evenly split down the middle. They were a complete cluster of frustration, awkwardness, and jealousy. Bitter words and angry glances were about to go to a whole new level. Playing a game of lacrosse was about to be the least of their worries.

The game wasn't that great but it still held Andy's attention throughout the whole thing. She assumed he wanted to start actually getting into lacrosse. He had always said he wanted to but now that he was getting older and was going to start practicing. Despite the horrendous performance and Coach looking like he was about to have an aneurism, Beacon Hills had won the game by one point. It was a win none the less. The crowd started filtering off the bleachers to either leave or congratulate the team. The group of friends found each other and decided to head out for a victory celebration at the 24/7 diner in town that had an arcade attached; with Andy kicking and screaming towards Cassidy to let him go.

The group left for the diner once the boys and Kira got changed. The place might have been more packed then the actual game was. They finally found a table for the nine of them, but the seating arrangement was more difficult than it should have been. They decided to put Andy at the head of the table, which he was thrilled about making him think he was high and might. He had Cassidy, Lydia, Scott, and Stiles on his left in the order and Liam, Mason, Kira, and Malia on his right.

"So I thought you didn't want to come to the game, Cas?" Liam smirked at her from across the table.

"Oh I just couldn't break my promise to you." Cassidy started looking through her menu.

"And here I thought you were there to keep me company." Lydia sighed next to her.

"Yeah, me too." Mason spoke up. "I feel so manipulated now."

Cassidy laughed at her friends and turned to see her brother paying more attention to the people that were around the diner than at the table. He was definitely a watcher. "What do you want to get, kiddo?"

"Can I get a milkshake?" Andy's tone turned animated.

"Dude, you like milkshake's too? What's your favorite?" Liam enthused towards the young boy next to him.

Cassidy watched as Andy, Liam, and Mason started talking boy talk about food, lacrosse, and video games.

"It's like watching a different species." Lydia whispered in her ear.

Eventually the entire table ordered their food and topics were being discussed. They were actually all laughing and joking, being friends again. And it felt good. No werewolf or supernatural drama, no life altering situation, just a group of teenagers. At some point the boys left the table to go play games while the girls stayed behind.

"Hey Andy, you want to play this racing game?" Stiles asked the younger boy.

"Nah." Andy didn't even look at him, just continued playing the pinball game with Liam and Mason.

Stiles sighed and punched the start button on the game for him and Scott.

"Dude, you can't get mad at him." Scott sighed, turning the wheel of the video game car. "He's her brother."

"I know." Stiles turned his wheel a little too hard and his car skid off a hill. "I just…I don't get why everyone is so pissed at me. I mean she broke up with me in the first place."

"Just let it cool down for a while. People were just so adjusted to you two together." Scott attempted to calm his best friend's anger.

"Come on, Andy. We got to get home." Cassidy walked over to her brother.

Stiles couldn't help but watch them. He probably was being completely obvious about it, but he couldn't stop himself. He felt a type of jealousy more so to the way Andy was infatuated with Liam, the way he use to be to him. He watched as Cassidy gave Liam a long hug, hearing her thank him for hanging out with Andy. Stiles didn't understand what was going on with the two of them. He just knew he didn't like it.

Everyone soon left the diner and Stiles took Malia home, much to her cries from wanting to spend the night with Stiles. But he just wanted to be alone the rest of the night. They might have won the game tonight, but he felt so low for some reason. He entered the house and went straight to his room. Maybe a good night's sleep would help his head.

His dad came to his room and knocked on the open door. "How was the game?" He asked his son with a smile.

"Good, we won." Stiles nodded his head and threw his sweatshirt on his chair.

"That's great!" The Sheriff could tell his son was tired and wanted to get out of his hair, but needed to say something he knew he wasn't going to like. "So, Cassidy was by earlier."

Stiles head snapped up towards his father, surprise written across his face. "What for?"

"She dropped some stuff off." He pointed to the box that was sitting against the wall by the door.

The boy had completely missed it when he walked in.

"I'll let you get some sleep."

His dad closed the door softly behind him. Stiles stared at the box for a while. He had a feeling he knew what was in it, he just didn't know how to go about it. He picked the box up slowly and brought it over to the bed to sit down. He pulled out multiple sweatshirts of his own that he had given her. He didn't think he would even be able to wear them again. The next thing he found was the cd he made her.

"One down, several to go." He read his own handwriting on the cd. When he made this a month ago he wasn't expecting to end already. He didn't expect their relationship to end so suddenly.

But she broke up with him. He wasn't good enough for her. Never the guy that people wanted to stick around for and he was tired with it.

* * *

><p>Finally getting into Stiles head a little bit.<p>

You'll find out more slowly with time.

Please Review:Follow:Favorite: All that jazz, but seriously, if I could get at least **10 reviews** to let me know what you guys think that would be fantastic!

**ALSO MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW MY TUMBLR FOR MORE CASSIDY!**


	6. Holy

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf; only Cassidy and the world surrounding her.

Holy - PVRIS

(polyvore oufit on profile)

**Shout-Out to ****toridw317, aPaperheaRt, Guest1, anon, lenie954, Emmalovesdimitri, lolsmileyface6, AnimeLover-DarkKnight321, ****Guest2, ****stonerlockbatch****,**

**and the special people on tumblr for the reviews and everyone else who read!**

Happy Holiday, Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, Happy 2015!

Did I get it all? I don't know.

The Holidays were a tad bit crazy this year, but here is a fresh chapter to start out your 2015!

I kind of completely redid the outline I was going with for this story last week, so it's going to get even messier than it is!

**Welcome to The Mess I Made in the Tried & True Series!**

* * *

><p><strong>Holy<strong>

_You put on a faith facade,_  
><em>Think you're holy when you're not.<em>  
><em>I hate to break it to you baby,<em>  
><em>But you're simply lost.<em>  
><em>You can right all the wrongs just to feel you belong.<em>

_No you don't know._  
><em>You're all alone,<em>  
><em>You poor unfortunate soul.<em>  
><em>You can't control where your body let's you go.<em>  
><em>You're all alone,<em>  
><em>You poor unfortunate soul.<em>

The office was stuffy and bright. The sun was shining through the windows to her right; sunset upon them soon. She was taken aback by the beauty and the way the rays of light danced across the things in the office. It hit a glass on the desk and bounced towards the ceiling. It was completely unique. It did what it wanted.

"Cassidy? Are you listening?"

Said girl looked back over to Dr. Stappen, not realizing she had completely zoned out. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

He smiled softly at the young girl. "Where did your head go?"

"The sun reflection got my attention." She brought her legs up to sit criss-cross on the leather chair.

"Are you a fan of the sun?"

"Not much as I am of rain."

"What's so special about rain?" He was glad she was holding an actually conversation with him for one.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "I've always liked to sit by the window and watch the rain. It's like everything becomes clean during a storm. It washes everything away and you can start over." She brought her thumb to her mouth and bit softly at the skin. "Something I wish could happen to me."

"You wish you could become clean?"

"I wish I could start over sometimes. Try things again to see if the results would turn out better."

Dr. Stappen nodded. "But there has to be things in your life that you are happy with."

"Of course."

"Then what is one memory you never want to get taken away from you?"

She thought about it. There were many moments in her life she held near and dear to her. There were also some that now stung deep inside of her at the thought of them. But one memory was so bright she knew she could never forget it.

"Did you think of something?" He saw a smile pass across her face.

"There was this one day, about 3 years ago. Isaac and I went to see Taking Back Sunday at this small venue in Sacramento. We were 15 I guess, at the time, and it was our first concert that we went to by ourselves." Cassidy smiled brightly at the memory. "We were in the middle of crowd and I just remember not caring about anything but was going on in the four walls surrounding us."

She remembered it so well. Isaac stood behind her the whole time, making sure she could see and that nobody would mess with her. "It didn't matter what was wrong with me, or who was around me, I was just completely happy."

"Is that why you love music so much?"

She nodded. "It's my release. I feel completely alive even if it's just for a 2 hour show."

"You've been to plenty of concerts after and before that, why was that one so important?"

"Because it was just me and Isaac, and a bunch of strangers we would never see again. It didn't matter how ridiculous we got, nothing mattered." She remembered so well when they played 'Timberwolves at New Jersey' and the two of them completely losing their shit over it.

"Have you talked to Isaac lately?" He asked, writing something down on the notepad.

"Off and on. It's hard because of the time difference."

"Do you feel it harder to be happy because he's not here?"

Cassidy's head dropped. It definitely didn't make her happier that's for sure. "I miss him every day. He's my best friend." He would always be her best friend despite the distance. She wished she could go back to France right now. She didn't feel like she was even needed in Beacon Hills anymore. Nobody needed her here.

"You have other friends here, Cassidy." Dr. Stappen leaned forward, making sure she was paying attention to what he was saying. "Just because one person leaves your everyday life doesn't mean everyone else did."

But they did. It was her fault. She broke up with Stiles, she was the one making people choose sides between the two. She was the one pushing everyone away from her, because they would be happier without her interfering.

"Okay." She nodded, lying. But if lying got her out of this office than she would take it.

"Okay." He sat back, pulling another note pad off the table next to him. "Here is your prescription, it's a slightly higher dose than you are used to, but we will lean you slowly off again."

She took the paper from him and attempted to read the chicken scratch that was written down. Just another medication to make her happy. "Okay."

* * *

><p>She went through the rest of the week on autopilot. That was usually what happens when she was prescribed a higher dose of medication. Her brain was in a fog for a few days before she gotten a handle on it again. She stayed away from everyone, especially people that school. If there were conversations at all it was short and pointless.<p>

Cassidy was just mad. Mad at herself really. Why couldn't she be happy? What did she have such an issue with that? Why did it take other people to make her happy? She was a broken fucking mess. And it was all her fault. No one else's.

So she spent her Friday night locked up in her room, music blaring from her speakers and a Lang Leave poetry book in her hands. Every time she looked up she saw the damn pill bottle sitting there, mocking her, her and her unhappiness.

Her body jumped up as her door swung open, revealing Lydia and Kira on the other side.

"Cassidy Snyder, as she lives and breathes." Lydia announced walking in with a smile adorning her perfect lips.

'Barely.' Cassidy thought to herself. "Do you know how to knock, Lydia?"

"Takes too long." Shrugged and plopped down on the bed next to her friend.

"I wanted to," Kira rolled her eyes, "but Lydia gets what Lydia wants." She closed the door as she entered the room fully.

"Isn't that the truth."

"Precisely." The red head smiled. "And that means you are coming out with us."

"What?" Cassidy whined. Her book dropped to her lap as she dropped her head back to the wall.

"There's a party at one of the lacrosse players house." Kira studied the things that sat around her room, only having been in there a few times. "Everyone is invited."

"Everyone as in people I don't like?" She looked back and forth between the two girls. They knew who she was talking about.

Lydia nudged her leg. "Come on, you've been in such a funk all week. You need to get out and have some fun."

"Lyd, why do I feel like every time you come over here you are trying to sweet talk me into something?"

"Just because it works doesn't mean I do it every time."

The two friends stared at each other with a look of determination in both their eyes.

"Come on, Cas." Kira sat down at the bed now, breaking the staring contest between the other two. "I haven't been able to hang out with you much lately, and I promise it will be fun. No drama!"

"No drama." Lydia shook her head. "Just drinks, boys, and some teenage recklessness."

"Mmm, all my favorite things." Cassidy rolled her eyes, but moved off of the bed anyways. She hadn't realized until know the girls were more dressed up than usual. If they were making her go to this, she sure as hell wasn't getting all gussied up for anyone.

"Whatcha gonna wear?" Lydia smiled, knowing she won.

"Sweatshirt and sweatpants." She called out from her closet.

"Hilarious."

"I'm not going out of my way for this party." She pulled a white cut-off off the hanger and walked over to grab a bandeau from her drawer.

"Maybe you will meet a new guy?" Kira with hope laced in her voice.

"No interest in that." She walked back into her closet, closing the door this time change.

Lydia rolled her eyes and spoke to Kira. "She says that now, but get a few shots in her and she'll be dancing up on someone by the end of the night."

"I can hear you still!" Cassidy yelled, changing her shirt and bra.

"Good!"

Kira laughed at the two's bickering. Something caught her attention that was placed on the desk. She got up and looked at the pictures that were scattered there. "Cassidy, are these you?"

"What?" She pulled herself out of the closet, straightening her clothes, and walking over to her. She forgot about the pictures on the desk. They were from the runway show in Paris. Her mother had given them to her earlier in the week but she had completely forgotten about them.

"Yep." Lydia stood next to them, looking at the photos as well. "She kicked so much ass that day."

"It's not that big of deal." Cassidy mumbled and went back to getting ready.

"Not that big of deal?" Kira flipped through picture after picture. "You're a model. That's awesome!"

She didn't reply and continued to do her make-up; extra dark for the night. She blocked out her friends praises and focused on making herself look presentable.

"Can I use your bathroom before we leave?" Kira asked, finally putting the photos down.

"Yeah, it's down the hall. Last door on the right." Cassidy smiled at her lightly and watched her leave the room. She raised her hands to her hair, shaking out the messy curls. Something else took over her attention though. The dark red line that ran across the side of her rib cage was more noticeable against her pale skin.

She didn't even notice Lydia come up behind her until she felt her hand on her shoulder. Cassidy looked at her through the mirror with pain in her eyes.

"It's okay." Lydia nodded. Reassuring her friend the best she could.

Cassidy bit her lip and nodded back. The red head wrapped her arms tightly around her friend hopping to make her feel something other than the pain in her body.

"Everything is going to be okay, Cassi."

She let her head rest against her friends, letting her feelings drop down to what they actually were at the moment. No façade upon her face. Cassidy thanked anything that was out there for her friendship with Lydia Martin. The two let go of each other just as Kira walked back in the room.

"Are we ready?" Kira decided to ignore the strain in the air.

Kira drove them to the party, saying she was going to play DD for the night. Not much of a drinker in the first place, and probably couldn't get drunk just like the werewolves. They parked the car about a block away, since cars were already piled up on the street. They could feel the bass of the music as they stepped onto the property. Cassidy still had no idea whose house this way, but god help them tomorrow when they had to clean up all the trash.

She was determined to put on a smile and have a good time. And get drunk. That was a big part of it, and no one was going to stand in her way.

"Ladies!" The three turned around to see Greenberg raising his arms high with a drink in either hand. "Welcome to the party."

They simple stared at him with raised eyebrows. "This is your house, Greenberg?" Cassidy asked the boy who already looked intoxicated.

"Welcome to mi casa!" They watched as he polished off one of the drinks in this hand. "Drinks and keg are in the kitchen, pong and other shit is downstairs, and dancing and grinding is in the living room." He pointed around himself. Thankfully, another person walked in caught his attention away from them.

"I can't believe this is Greenberg's house." Lydia looked around in shock.

"This place is going to get trashed." Kira looked around at the already mess that it was.

"Guess we should join them." Cassidy shrugged. "_Ladies._" She mocked the boy and grabbed the two's hands to drag them through the crowd towards the kitchen. Alcohol and mixers littered the counter top, and red cups were sporadically thrown about. Cassidy found three clean cups and put a shot of green apple Smirnoff vodka in each. She handed the two of them a cup.

"Cassidy, I don't think I should." Kira looked at the cup in question.

"One shot won't kill you." Lydia twirled her cup around. "You probably aren't even affected by alcohol."

"Cheers." Cassidy raised her cup and waited for her two friends to clink their plastic cups together. They took the shot, cringing a bit at the end from the sharp taste.

"Drinking without us I see." Scott entered the kitchen with Stiles, Malia, Liam and Mason on his tail.

"Bite me, McCall. You can't even get drunk." She turned around started fixing herself and Lydia a drink.

"Hey." Liam slid up next to her with a smile on his face.

"Ahh," she turned and gave him a big hug, "someone I can't ever be mad at."

"I'll take that as a compliment." He kept an arm around her waist as she finished up the drinks.

"Hey, Mason, you drinking?" Cassidy smiled over at the other freshman she had become friends with.

"Sure." The boy nodded and took the cup from her.

"Aren't you going to ask the rest of us?" Malia called out where she was tucked close to Stiles' side.

Cassidy looked her up and down and then over to Stiles' who had his head to the ground. She looked back to Malia with a fake smile. "I'm sure you're capable of getting anything you want." She could hear the giggle that Lydia tried to hide into her cup.

"It's called being nice." Malia spat at her. "Something you seem to have never learned how to do."

Cassidy had to bite her lip from laughing straight into the dirty blonde's face. Did she really want to talk about being nice and learning something? Did she really want to play that game? Cassidy shook off the comment, shrugged her shoulders and took a hold of Lydia's hand. She drug her friend back through the party until they were in the middle of the makeshift dance floor in the middle of the living room.

The two danced and danced. This was a coping thing the two of them did together after Allison's death. They would spend most of their weekends out at parties and just dancing. It wasn't healthy at the time with everything they were going through, but it brought them closer no matter what. Lydia could tell her friend was going through a bad time right now, so she would let her lose a little control, but not enough that she couldn't wrangle her back in.

For the most part the two basically danced together, cups held above their heads so they would get spilled on anyone. They would take turns going back into the kitchen to refill their cups. Boys would try to grind up on them, but that's not what they wanted. They just wanted to let loose by themselves, even though it was in the middle of a party.

An hour and a half later, they both were 6 cups in and tripping tipsy over their own feet. Cassidy was thanking herself for wearing her converse instead of some ridiculous pair of heels that only Lydia could pull off. She really had no idea how the bubble redhead didn't break her ankles half the time. The two stumbled around the house, laughing at each other until they found Scott and Kira hanging out in the corner of the kitchen again.

"Scott McCall." She fell into the alpha's side.

He quickly wrapped an arm around to keep her up. "Cassidy Snyder."

"I keep forgetting to tell you, but my sister has requested you to come over to my house at some point." She poked his chest hard, but it probably didn't even hurt him.

He could help but laugh. "I'm sure I can do that."

"You might have some competition with a 6 year old Kira." Lydia giggled.

"Just when I thought he was all mine." Kira sighed, acting the part.

"Liam!" Cassidy quickly let go of Scott and threw her arms around the young beta that just arrived in the kitchen.

He laughed and patted her back softly. "I've missed you too, Cassidy."

"We need to hang out more." She made the executive decision. "I mean, we already do hang out a lot, but we need to hang out more."

"Babe, you're rambling." Lydia grabbed her cup. "And you're empty; I'll take care of that for you."

"I love you, Lydia Martin." She gave the girl a kiss on the cheek, then went back to hanging off of Liam.

She looked around the party observing everything that was happening around her. For the most part, everyone was from her school. A lot of people that she had never talked to or didn't want to have anything to do with her and that was fine with her. There was one boy how stood in the other room that she had never seen before. He stood tall, definitely at least a head above her. He had the dark, mysterious look about him in his skinny jeans, vans, and a hoodie with a jean vest over top of it.

For a moment he looked up from where he was, fucking around with a few other guys, and met her eye contact. The two stared at each other, no emotion on either of their faces, until he gave her a small smirk.

All of the sudden a body was being pushed into her and she was stumbling on her feet. Thank god for Liam's grip on her or she would have faced planted.

"What the fuck!" She yelled and turned around to see one of the lacrosse players, something Roberts. She couldn't remember the burly man's first name. All she knew was he was a dick.

"Calm down." He rolled his eyes.

"How 'bout you apologize then?" She stood her ground.

"I barely even touched you. Don't get your panties in a bunch?" Roberts smirked. "Wait? Are you even wearing any? I bet you're crazy easy to get with now that you are single."

She fake laughed, and before he could say anything else she punched his straight in the face. The crowd around them started 'Ohhing' and talking about it immediately.

"You fucking bitch!" Roberts yelled out, covering his nose which looked like it was starting to bleed.

Before she could do anything else, a pair of arms circled around her waist and started dragging her away from the scene. "Stop being a dick, Roberts!" She yelled out, fighting against the arms but they would give.

She smelt the cologne before realizing who it was. "Let me go!" She fought, but still couldn't get free. The two had made it through the back door and down off of the deck. "Stiles! Let me fucking go!" She yelled and pushed herself finally free of him.

"What were you thinking?" He looked at her ridiculously. "Do you have a death warrant out for yourself or something?"

"Oh god." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She really didn't want a lecture from him.

"You want to fight Roberts? He could kick your ass with a snap of his fingers."

This is the first time the two had talked to each other since the night she broke up with him. She could honestly say this was not how she was expecting it to happen.

"Do you want me to thank you or something? Cause it's not happening."

"I'm not looking for one, Cassidy. I just wanted to know you were okay." They both knew that was a double meaning, but like hell she was going to take it.

"Oh, I'm perfectly fine. You seem to being doing a great job also."

He rolled his eyes. "I don't understand your backwards talk."

"You moved on just fine."

"What does that mean?"

"Didn't take long at all for you to go running straight into Malia's open arms."

"You broke up with me. And if I remember correctly, you ran off to Paris! You jumped at the thought of getting away from here. From me!" Stiles pointed hard into his chest.

"And you jumped straight into bed with her. Well you don't see me hopping on anyone's dick do you!"

"No, you've just turned into a complete fake. I don't even know the girl standing in front of me right now."

"You're just pissed off because you couldn't fix me like you try to do with everything and everyone else. Well news flash for you Stiles, I don't want you to fix me!" Cassidy spat the toxic words into his face.

"I'm not trying to fix you, Cassidy! All I wanted to do was help you."

"I don't want your help! I can help myself just fine."

"Yeah, you're doing a bang up job on that. Why don't you go drink another bottle so you can forget all your problems."

"Why don't you go fuck off."

He raised his arms in annoyance and headed for the door, completely over this conversation. Before he could walk in, he turned back towards her one last time. "You know, I tried to give you the world and I would have to, but you walked away."

"I didn't want the world, Stiles. You forced it on me."

He shook his head at the ground. "Whatever helps you sleep at night." He slammed the door behind him.

Her buzz was definitely gone. Her buzz was going and the bad thoughts were building back up in her head.

"Well that sounded messy."

A voice scared Cassidy, making her spin on the gravel to find the voice. She looked around until she found a person sitting on the deck floor in the corner. There was barely any light out there so if you didn't see them moving or hear them you wouldn't have known they were there. Just like they didn't.

Cassidy looked closer to see that the person was a boy and that boy was the same mysterious boy from earlier.

"Do you just sit in shadows and listen in on people's conversations on a daily basis?" She was still pissed and he was the first line of contact to get it taken out on.

He looked up her with a smug grin. "Do you tend to fight with your boyfriend at parties where anyone can see?"

"Not my boyfriend."

"Right." He snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "I heard that little debacle in your rant."

She rolled her eyes and pulled her hair, which had turned into a curly mess because of the night's events, up into a hair tie. Who the hell was this kid?

"You want to talk about it?" He pulled something shiny out of his pocket.

"Yeah, that's what I want." She kicked a stone, but somehow she kept getting closer to this boy. "Another therapy session with a person I don't know."

"Travis." He pulled a small bag out now with a lighter.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"My name is Travis." He laughed. The shiny item turned out to be a pipe that he had start filling with what she assumed was weed.

"Congratulations." She was really done with this conversation. She either wanted to go back inside and drink or just leave this party all together.

"You're quite the spit fire…" He went to say her name, but realized he had yet to be given it. "I need a name." He brought the lighter to the end of the pipe and took his first hit.

"Why the hell would I ever give you my name?" She looked through the window of the house to see Stiles and Scott talking about something. Probably her.

He let out a deep breath of smoke. "Because you clearly want me to know it or you wouldn't still be standing here talking to me."

Without her even realizing it, she knew he was right. Or maybe she just wanted someone to help her forget about everything that has been happening in her life as of lately. Maybe this Travis kid could do that.

"Cassidy."

He smiled up at her. "It's very nice to meet you, Cassidy. Come sit." He patted the empty deck next to him and took another hit.

She looked back up in to the window to see all of her 'friends' in a circle now talking and laughing about something. She wasn't wanted there, but she was out here. She walked over and plopped down next to him. Fuck it.

"You want a hit?" He gestured the pipe towards her.

"I probably shouldn't."

"What? Too good for it?"

"Not in the slightest." She thought back to the times her and Isaac would get high when she would come visit him while he worked at the graveyard. "I just don't know if I would be able to."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning I was recently released from the hospital for a collapsed lung. So I don't know if I could withhold it."

"Dude, that sucks. You seem like you have a very fascinating life."

"What are you implying?" She looked over at him, that sweet, musty smell filling her nostrils.

"Well earlier you said 'Another therapy session' which I am assuming means you already do, and you were just in the hospital." He shrugged. "I guess you just seem like you have a lot of layers."

She looked him up and down with uneasiness. He probably wouldn't even remember talking to her tomorrow. "I'm not some girl with a tragic backstory who is looking for someone to peel through those layers."

"Then what's your story?" He liked the way she talked without caring about how the words would affect the other person. "Who is Cassidy?" He took another hit.

She was the girl that ran around with werewolves, a kitsune and a banshee day by day, who was to enclosed with a type of depression that she didn't know which way was up half the time. "The truth would kill your high."

"That's fucking deep." He said sarcastically.

"Maybe ask me sometime you aren't killing your brain cells."

"So you're saying we can talk again?" Travis gave her a big smile this time.

Cassidy couldn't help the roll of her eyes. It had become so natural. "Guess we'll just have to see."

It was quiet between the two for a few minutes; her watching the stars while he light up next to her.

"Nice punch back there by the way."

She smiled for real this time, even if it was small. "Thank you."

"Yeah," he knocked the burnt ashes on the side of the deck, "I definitely want to see you again."

* * *

><p>Womp Womp...Womp.<p>

New kid. fight with stiles. mess in her head. things are getting interesting!

Please Review:Follow:Favorite: All that jazz, but seriously, if I could get at least **10 reviews** to let me know what you guys think that would be fantastic!

**ALSO MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW MY TUMBLR FOR MORE CASSIDY!**


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